ABIGAIL BOWEN
ABIGAIL BOWEN
ABOUT
"I want to paint what I feel, not what I see. I used to paint figuratively, then following a spate of mental illness in my family, including dementia, Alzheimers and depression, I started to explore a more metaphysical approach and attempt to capture less rigid, more fluid states of mind. I found a more abstract approach allowed me to create emotionally informed paintings that allowed me to express my feelings about love and loss. Now, my work is less about memory but continues to try and visualise those emotional states that touch our heart and soul."
Abigail’s work is concerned with memory and loss as she attempts to capture the emotional “edge of the rainbow”, where reality and imagination mingle. Conjuring up ghostly shapes that float in and out of our consciousness, she creates each piece by adding layer upon layer of volatile, emotionally-charged paint. Often the canvas is flipped and turned creating amorphous, ethereal shapes that are without boundary and appear to hum, float and breathe in the changing light.
Working without sketches, Abigail paints directly onto the canvas hoping to capture undiluted, the essence of the emotion. This means that every painting contains the ideas, frustrations, happiness and history of the process that created it. For this reason, she has chosen not to produce prints of her paintings, preferring that each piece remains a unique, autonomous object in its own right.
Abigail was born in Brighton and graduated in Fine Art (Painting) in 1996 from Chelsea College of Art. She is represented in London by the Hicks Gallery, Dar-le and the Bear in Woodstock and shows regularly in galleries and Open Studios in Sussex. She now lives in Brighton.
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