Los Angeles, CA
Maxwell Alexander Gallery, November 14-28
Eric Bowman, No Room at the Inn, oil, 24 x 30.
This story was featured in the November 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
“IT’S FUN TO COME along on the journey as an artist evolves,” says Beau Alexander, owner of Maxwell Alexander Gallery. When that artist is Eric Bowman—known for his evocative portrayals of the American West, accomplished in a stylized realism that is wholly his own and also reminiscent of early 20th-century artists like Ernest Blumenschein and other members of the fabled Taos Six—the next step of that journey promises to be not only fun but also intriguing and rewarding. For evidence, look no further than the dozen works in Bowman’s solo show this month at Maxwell Alexander. Although the gallery remains open by appointment only, the complete show appears on its website.
Bowman’s current state of evolution as an artist is apparent in the title of the show: Indigenous Suite. As the artist explains it, instead of the cowboy paintings through which his reputation has grown, these latest scenes all focus on “first Americans. While I’ve done some Indian paintings in the past, I’ve never done a whole series of them like I have here.” What hasn’t changed, however, is the setting. “I like the Southwest landscape,” says Bowman, who grew up in Southern California and has long made his home just outside of Portland, OR. “The desert scrub, whether it’s a saguaro grove or sagebrush or cottonwood trees, is otherworldly, and the open vistas and cloud formations are very adaptable to stylizing the shapes and making them appealing.”
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- Eric Bowman, Arts and Crafts, oil, 24 x 24.
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- Eric Bowman, Destination Unknown, oil, 16 x 20.
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- Eric Bowman, Indigenous Pilgrim, oil, 24 x 24.
Not that Bowman’s canvases offer style merely for its own sake. Each scene engages mind and senses alike with characters and settings that invite viewers to ponder deeply while appreciating the inherent beauty. NO ROOM AT THE INN, for example, presents a young Native couple on horseback, looking isolated yet proud amidst a bleak landscape, the title and characters undeniably tying their plight to one experienced by another couple in the desert near Bethlehem more than two millennia ago. In DESTINATION UNKNOWN, a solitary man rides out into the desert as evening falls and storm clouds loom. “When someone is moving away from us like that,” notes the artist, “it draws us into the picture. We’re going on the journey with them.” Still other paintings deliver meaningful messages about the creativity found in Native cultures and the caretakers of those traditions. ARTS AND CRAFTS, for example, depicts a Native woman and the pottery she has fashioned, set against a background of richly textured adobe walls.
Viewed together, the 12 paintings have a cohesiveness that more than justifies the word suite in the show’s title—as valid here as when it describes a series of musical compositions played one after the other. Beau Alexander promises a video tour of the show on the gallery’s site that will vividly highlight those visual harmonies. —Norman Kolpas
contact information
213.275.1060
www.maxwellalexandergallery.com
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- Eric Bowman, The Space Between Fathers and Daughters, oil, 30 x 30.
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- Eric Bowman, Western Blue, oil, 24 x 30.
This story was featured in the November 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art November 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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