africanah.org

Arena for Contemporary African, African-American and Caribbean Art

Richard Butler-Bowdon

RBBTheChessPlayer

 

 

Presented by the First Floor Gallery (Harare) on the Contemporary African Art Fair in London.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About:

Born in 1957 in Cape Town, South Africa. Lives and works in Melbourne, Australia.

Richard Butler Bowden 030 - Final Artwork - The SycophantThe Sycophant.

Born in Cape Town, Richard Butler-Bowdon’s ethos has been that of a citizen of the world, and whether he is in the Sudan, Thailand, the Netherlands, or in his current home in Melbourne, Australia, his utmost dedication is to art and the art community. Fundamentally, his practice is an outcome of this open and non-hierarchical curiosity in humanity.

rbbnadine2014Nadine, 2014.

Taking on the most formal and historical traditions of portraiture, Butler- Bowdon challenges the viewer to break with these very conventions and presumptions that accompany lofty tradition by taking his observations from those living in the diaspora. His subjects are contra-historical; they are contemporary and undeniably compelling. Far from the exotic, Butler- Bowdon’s paintings create magnetic and subversive narratives that invite the viewer into the world of ‘the other’, to enter a dynamic gaze that is defiant to preconceptions.

rbbthechristian2014The Christian, 2014.