Geoffrey Bowman

Geoffrey Bowman applies torn paper, paint and shimmery materials to canvas in an effort that is at least praiseworthy for the patience it requires. Sometimes he attaches sequins––all carefully laid out in a pattern. Bowman’s one idea is to paint a circle with a hole in the middle and to put a dot of paint, a sequin or a tiny scrap of tissue in the hole. Hundreds of these doughnuts, some small, some very large, are intend­ed to represent a microcosmos. Since fetishism is no substitute for sensitivity, these vividly colored paintings fail to achieve the intimate statement that this sort of surrealism should evoke.

—Joanna C. Maglott