Bobby Dowler, driven first by necessity and later by a strong conviction, began an exciting period of economic restriction in the production of his work. He decided to spend as little money as possible to materialize his art and, for this purpose, collects and reuses paintings that have previously been discarded by other artists. Most come from his friends, and many others from friends of friends. If he is lucky, he also picks them up on his way to the studio or acquires them at flea markets for a few coins in exchange. Through this practice, Dowler rescues paintings from abandonment and oblivion, giving a second chance to all those painted canvases, with varying degrees of success, and, in the process, also to the stretchers that support them.
In his hands, the paintings are dismantled: on one side, the canvases, and on the other, the stretchers, which become part of his extensive collection of materials that can be combined and assembled with each other to once again become part of a work of art. To create his Painting-Objects, Dowler uses staplers, heat guns, screws, metal brackets, screwdrivers... in other words, tools and utensils designed for DIY or professions far removed from pictorial concerns and issues.
The Painting-Objects are the result of a constant search for surprise: a way of working that is very analytical but open to improvisation and the discovery of new paths through senseless exploration and seemingly useless searching, aiming to provoke unconventional decisions that attempt to open a deeper understanding. The impossibility of foreseeing what will trigger the completion of a work is part of the nature of his particular creative process.
His work has been presented at Workspace Gallery (Gateshead, UK); Bold Tendencies (London); Chelsea Space (London); Lethaby Gallery (London); Beaconsfield (London); SlugTown (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK); Ceysson & Bénétière (Paris); Shoot the Lobster (New York); New Art Centre (Roche Court, UK); as well as in numerous solo exhibitions at Hannah Barry Gallery (London) and Galería Alegría (Barcelona and Madrid), among others. He has been an artist-in-residence at The Fores Project (London), Villa Lena (Tuscany, Italy), and La-Sira (Paris).
Bobby Dowler (London, UK, 1983) holds a Master of Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts (UAL, London). He received the UAL Alumni Art Prize in 2022. He currently lives and works in Paris.