Formed by Nature: Landscape paintings by Mark Bowles/ Beaded Skulls by Ali Launer
Always fascinated by texture, form and color, Mark Bowles utilizes this sense of fascination to express how he feels about what he is seeing. Although aware of and competent in formal methods of creating art, he does not limit his expressions by rules, or even by his own interpretations of what he sees. The freedom resulting from such an open and expressive approach allows his work to move effortlessly from representational to minimalist to abstraction, often within one canvas. And although his works are recognizable as "Bowles" pieces, they can stand alone in their own individual mix of modernism, expressionism, minimalism and landscape, often to a transcendent effect.
Honing in her art of beading since the age of Twelve, artist Ali Launer adorns real animal skulls with faceted jewels, glass, silver and other surprising elements. Often the design work on her adorned skulls feels contemporary with their asymmetrical planes of materials. Always the result enhances nature’s own profound design work with grace.