Frank Bowling — Like Water at Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong
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Location: Hauser & Wirth Hong Kong
Date: June 11 – August 29, 2026
Project: Like Water, works from the 1960s to 2020
Why it Matters: Bowling's first solo show in East Asia
Frank Bowling was born in British Guiana in 1934 and came to London in 1953. He graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1962 and by the early 1960s was already a recognizable presence in London's art scene. After moving to New York in 1966, he gradually moved away from figuration altogether.
Around 1973 he started tilting his canvases on a custom platform and letting the paint pour across the surface. The Poured Paintings that came out of this are where control and accident end up looking like the same thing.
Like Water covers the full range. The earliest work, Untitled (Mother's House) (1966), has a silkscreened image of his mother's home in Guyana sitting in washes of blue, green, and red. The 1980s canvases have newsprint, plastic, and foam pressed into the paint.
Later works are cut apart and reassembled, built up in layers of gel and varnish until any direct narrative disappears. The most recent piece, There Be Dragons (2020), is large and dark, with gold leaf that catches the light like sun on water. Curator Hou Hanru contributes an essay to the exhibition.
More info: hauserwirth.com
