Robert Bowen’s work is a strange, swirling brew of colorful contradiction that is not easy to define or even understand, but that seems quite the point. Throughout his body of work, Bowen takes familiar iconography and handily corkscrews it with his own unique brand of humor and distinct painting style. Bowen’s ability to reappropriate contradictory symbols into unsettling situations puts him in league with greats like Ron English, and Andy Warhol. He continues to walk the line between charming humor and blasphemous sarcasm with symbolic imagery that leaves the viewer both curious and confused. —Stacey Ransom
“With this current body of work I am continuing to focus on my fascination with animal/machinery hybrids. There are so many unanswered questions I have about them. Is this a not so distant future reality? A terrible road we should never go down? How do I make the Killer Whale a more efficient killer? Can the marlin and shark be even faster hunters, more dangerous to their only predators, man? If the bees continue to disappear, should we design a replacement to pick up where they left off? Or do we accept our fate and stop toying with Mother Nature since that is what got us into trouble in the first place. I’m continuing to play mad scientist in a lab that should never really exist.” —Robert Bowen
