Paul Bowen sculpts abstract compositions from
scavenged quotidian objects. His eye for form exceeds
our ordinary familiarity with his materials—discarded
barnwood, embroidery hoops, or cable spools.
Bowen will on occasion purchase materials for his work, such
as old redwood boards from beer vats that he used
for a commissioned sculpture at the Cape Museum
of Fine Arts. The moniker of “found object artist”
seems too confining for Bowen and he doesn’t feel
that it describes him accurately. At the same time, he
identifies closely with the history of objects and seeks
to use them as symbols of their original purpose or
their cultural origin, though they are unmistakably new
and original objects that ask the viewer to question
the materials themselves as they contemplate the new
form.