Marcus Bowcott
Individual
Roles
Artist, EducatorBiography
Marcus Bowcott’s paintings and sculptures often focus on human activity in relation to the natural environment. He sometimes uses irony and humour to remind viewers of our culture’s conflicted relationship to nature and technology. He studied drawing, painting, and media at the Ontario College of Art in the late 1970s and later enrolled at the Royal College of Art, graduating with a MA from the RCA School of Painting in 1984. Back then, he was primarily concerned with formal aspects of figuration and landscape painting. Over the years, the subjects of his paintings shifted from representations of water surfaces and swimmers to paintings of industry, mechanized recreation, and the effects of industry on surrounding landscapes. This work often suggests metaphysical reflection. Recently, he has been developing paintings and sculptures referencing mass consumer objects such as ‘Art Cars’ stacked on top of columns of old growth trees.Marcus taught drawing, painting, and colour in Vancouver area colleges and universities over a period of 35 years. He encouraged students to question historical and contemporary methods of representation in relation to personal thoughts and feelings. He also encouraged students to consider how our senses relating to balance, proprioception, and vision underpin widely accepted conventions and concepts of layout, design, composition, and colour. He lives in North Vancouver, BC with his wife and sculpture partner Helene Aspinall. Helene and Marcus enjoy living close to the lush mountain rainforest and the Salish Sea.
Marcus Bowcott, 2024
Collection
grunt gallery Programming Archive (Artist)Related programs
Palimpsest (Artist)30th Anniversary (Artist)