Listening to Beethoven

Aged 80, Frank Bowling still paints every day. Born in South America, in what was then British Guyana, Bowling came to London in 1953 to attend art school. In the 1960s, he moved to New York, seeking the city’ s pulse and energy; there, he went from figurative to abstract painting. He also wrote the essay “It’s Not Enough to Say ‘Black Is Beautiful’” in ARTNews in 1971, in which he discussed the paintings of contemporary colleagues and criticised the simplistic attitude to works by black artists. Exploring colour and geometry is the foundation of painting, according to Frank Bowling. In Listening to Beethoven he has poured paint on an inclining canvas; it resembles a river bed. The work also features impasto neon brushwork, plastic parts and words from a fortune cookie.