<I>Pink Plain 2</I>
date: label: Date
content: 1996
name: label: Created by
content: Frank Bowling, Guyanese, born 1934
notes: label: Caption
content: Guyana-born British artist Frank Bowling has made a vital contribution to the American art canon. He has maintained a U.S. residence throughout his career, creating artwork and writing extensively about American abstraction, aesthetic formalism, and issues relating to the concept of “black art.”
label: Caption
content: Bowling was drawn to abstraction for its non-figurative aesthetic, which he found a release from external expectations for him to create racial art. The relatively small size of Pink Plain 2 reflects Bowling’s desire during the 1990s to move from the monumental scale to a more intimate form of expression. He indicated that he found a new sense of artistic freedom in fashioning small-scale works: “I just want to let it all hang out on this scale. I want to do my number.”
label: Description
content: This is a large acrylic painting on collaged and stitched cotton canvas by Frank Bowling. Abstract in style, the majority of the painting is a light pink colored square near the top center, with multi-colored borders, yellow and black on the left, blue above, and orange and beige on the right. On the bottom quarter of the painting, are two banners horizontally spanning bottom. The top border is blue, orange, red, and yellow in color, and has thicker lines creating a thicker appearance in places, while the bottom banner is various shades of yellow and beige. It sits within a wooden frame with thin silver front edge and black back interior. On the back of frame, handwritten in black ink on the top left corner, are the words "FRANK BOWLING "PINKPLAIN "2 1996." A piece of yellow construction paper with a white and blue sticker reading "139" in black ink is wedged between the edges of the frame, right above the handwritten "1996."
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Abstraction
label: Topic
content: Art
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2014.130.5
objectType: label: Type
content: collages
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Frank Bowling
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic on canvas with thread and adhesive
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (painting): 32 5/16 × 28 9/16 in. (82 × 72.5 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (frame): 34 7/16 × 30 13/16 × 2 in. (87.5 × 78.3 × 5.1 cm)