Frank Bowling moved from Guyana to London in 1950. He studied at the Slade winning a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Art in 1959. He graduated in 1962 with both a Silver Medal in painting and a travel scholarship which took him to South America and the Caribbean.
Bowling went on to lecture at Reading University and the Camberwell School of Art between 1963 and 1966. Around this time he moved to New York where he worked with the abstract artists of his generation. An accomplished writer he became assistant editor to the Arts Magazine New York and wrote numerous articles and theses on abstraction from 1969 to 1972.
His work became overtly abstract as he began to concentrate on purely pictorial issues relating to colour and composition. This transition from figuration to abstraction was accompanied by new working methods. Bowling's paintings became larger and he abandoned the easel, often pinning his canvases to his studio walls or floor.
The artist is a leading colour field painter and throughout the 70s colour dominated his work. He divides his year between studios in London and New York and has exhibited extensively in both cities. In recognition of his achievements, in 2005 he was elected a Royal Academician.