Artist Eric N. Mack on a 1971 Frank Bowling Essay About Black Art: ‘He’s Arguing for the Importance of Innovation’
about 36 months ago (04/23/2021)
Artist Eric N. Mack on a 1971 Frank Bowling Essay About Black Art – ARTnews.com Skip to main content By Alex Greenberger Plus Icon Alex Greenberger Senior Editor, ARTnews View All April 23, 2021 2:22pm ©ARTnews For more than 50 years, Frank Bowling , who turned 86 this past February, has been making abstract paintings that not only push the medium in new directions but also fold in nuanced statements about colonialism, racism, and xenophobia. In the ’70s, Bowling was also known as a critic. For the April 1971 issue of ARTnews , he wrote “ It’s Not Enough to Say ‘Black Is Beautiful,’ ” an essay that focused on the double standards to which black artists were regularly subjected.