Friday, January 13, 2012

Mr Fowler

Over the years we have taken photos of artists we have met and known so we thought that form time to time we'd put one up here for the record. This image is of Mr Fowler a self-taught painter who lived in Motueka. We met him in the late 1970s via the artist Toss Woollaston who encouraged him to paint local sights like the beach at Kaiteriteri and other parts of the Nelson coast. Mr Fowler was chain smoking every time we met him and we never saw him leave the couch. Responding to Woollaston’s enthusiasm, Mr Fowler was given a small exhibition at the Dowse Art Gallery in the early eighties. At that time the Dowse sold work from its shows and a few paintings were purchased including one by Tony Fomison who was also a big Fowler fan.
Image: Mr Fowler photographed at his home in 1980

COMMENT: 13:01:12 Ross wrote: "I still have 2 lovely Lindsay Fowler paintings and my son Felix also has 2. The joy of his work is that whilst he was painting in the late 80's early 90's, he solely painted from memory and created a beautiful uncluttered vision of the Kaiteri -Riwaka area. Interestingly the buildings and sheds that dotted the landscape were often painted on cardboard first and moved around his compositions until he was happy with their placements."