Urban Intricacies: The Artwork of Joseph Bowman
By Angela Roberts
Mar. 28, 2011
We first took note of Joe Bowman when he sent us samples of his artwork to peruse. His fascinating art evokes a world that is at once surreal and realistic with a level of detail that is absolutely astonishing. Bowman also caught our attention with the unusual bio he gives for himself. He describes himself as:
Joseph Bowman (1752-1779) was an officer in the American Revolutionary War who served in the Illinois campaign. Maj. Bowman participated in the 1778 capture of Fort de Chartres, and remained there for some time as the commander of the newly renamed Fort Bowman. While attending a victory celebration, Maj. Bowman was injured by an accidental gunpowder explosion and later succumbed to his injuries, becoming the only American officer to die in the Illinois campaign. He now lives and works in Los Angeles.
Angela: How did you get started as an artist?
Joseph Bowman: I acquired the first of my hardcover sketchbooks and began filling it in 2006, when I was living in MacArthur Park and had just left a small distribution firm I had been managing. Having thus developed a body of raw material, collaging the like-kind pieces together to create a larger picture seemed to me like a natural progression. I had not yet seen anyone make semi-realistic, large-scale, intensely detailed scenes wherein the pieces themselves were all hand drawn, and I thought this to be a potential niche. The first such picture took me almost two years to complete, but I have since become much more efficient.
A: What is your preferred medium?
J: I draw the original illustrations using Pilot V5 pens onto heavyweight (32lb.) acid-free paper, then photocopy them onto lighter weight (24lb.) premium laser-jet stock. I cut out these copies using a smaller version of an exacto knife called a NT Cutter, and assemble them using standard glue sticks.
A: Is there a medium you've always wanted to try or that you would like to try but haven't gotten around to it?
J: Working in color doesn’t quite qualify as a new medium, but I’ve always wanted to colorize my work. I have never done so except for some experiments in Photoshop, which obviously bears little resemblance to the way that hand coloring would look. A series of simple, two-color prints might be a good way to ease into color work.
A: What are your influences?
J: Book illustrations, not to be confused with comic art, were always hugely influential to me growing up. Edward Gorey’s work, especially his book covers, are fascinating to me, as is the 1961 Alfred Hitchcock/Fred Banberry collaboration Haunted Houseful; I have a hardcover edition of the latter that I’ve cherished since childhood.
A: Do you have a favourite piece of artwork? One that you still look at and think, "This is amazing"?
J: The first picture that I made took so long and involved such a steep learning curve that looking at pictures of it today still affects me. I gave it the banal title Coastal Urban Landscape, and over the course of making it, I learned through trial and error all of the techniques and processes that I use today. Drawing new material as I went, the picture also forced me to learn a lot about scale and perspective, and develop a portfolio of drawing that I still incorporate into my work.
A: Can you tell us about your first professional sale? How did it come about?
J: A friend of mine curated a show at the Echo Curio gallery here in Los Angeles, and invited me to participate with four other local artists. The show consisted of about forty pieces of various media and sizes, of which I had four and wound up selling two, including the piece mentioned above.
A: Do you get ideas from texts or just from your imagination?
J: I try not to rely much on source material, so none of my drawings are of specific buildings or flora. Most of them do, however, tend towards one or another style or type; I have collections of mid-century, classical, and futuristic styles of buildings for example.
A: The bio you’ve given us for yourself is unusual. Why have you chosen this particular “Joseph Bowman” to represent yourself and what sort of response do you usually receive?
J: My name is a fairly common one according to the internet, and there are a lot of fascinating people both past and present who share it. There is a well-known cowboy sharpshooter who uses our mutual name as the url for his website as well as multiple doctors and salespeople. I found the Wikipedia entry for my name interesting enough, being obsessed with history, that I thought an abbreviated version would make an excellent bio.
A: Do you have any advice for young artists?
J: I would just stress the importance of consistency, and of using that consistent output as a bedrock for getting and keeping peoples’ attention.
A: Can you tell us anything about your current projects?
J: I’ve made some investments recently in large format scanners and printers, enabling me to do work in my studio that would previously have necessitated multiple trips to the print shop. I’m using these new advantages to start work on a series of much larger pictures that I eventually hope to make available as wall size prints.
Some more of Joseph's work:
Homes in Trees
Highrises Among Trees
To see more of Joseph's work, visit his Flickr Page. He is also booked for a show in Los Angeles on April 21st.