Today we’d like to introduce you to Rees Bowen.
Hi Rees, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have always found an interest in art and design. I suppose it is an inherent trait within me. However, finding and extracting my creativity was not so easy at first. There always seems to be a point where this changes. For me, it was London. I was in architecture school. My tutors, Peter Thomas and Peter Sabara challenged my creativity. This experience really made me realize the endless possibilities art and architecture had to offer. They also taught me the importance of giving meaning to work through conceptual support; making the work grounded, thoughtful, and relatable. My work in London involved architectural dreams realized through art in a way. This very creative approach to a world so technical brought out seeds in me that I could not help but embrace and nurture. The architectural and interior design work I am involved in often takes months or years to see my vision come to fruition. However with art, it is much more a feeling of immediate gratification!
Over the years, I have not taken the opportunities to create lightly. I have worked hard and experimented with a variety of media. My areas of focus include painting, photography, graphic design, and glass art. Of course, these areas often overlap, and I am constantly seeking ways to combine these disciplines. My conceptual approach to my artwork captures a thematic narrative often relating to patterns prescribed in nature but found in the urban environment across a wide variety of media. I am also interested in the fluid dynamics of motion and the patterns created by this movement. These patterns often have emphasis with light and shadow creating a more vibrant visualization of my artwork and the influence it has as an object in its environment. At times, I enjoy my art complimenting the space it inhabits. Other times it feels appropriate to challenge the space creating a type of dichotomy within the space and feeling of experience.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It has not been a smooth path, but this has been a good thing. I am a believer that if you look, there are signs given to us along each of our journeys – a sort of divine intervention I suppose. These challenges have afforded me the time to sit back and access where I am and where I want to be. I have interests in photography, graphic art, painting, sculpture, artisan, and blown glass, so connecting these disciplines has always been an interest to me. An obstacle or challenge in one area has the potential to open up an opportunity elsewhere. At least, that is how I like to look at it.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in several disciplines. As an architect and real estate consultant by trade, I have found ways to incorporate my creative interests in photography, graphic design, painting, and glass into a variety of projects across the nation and some overseas. I believe I am most known for my hand-blown glass work created under Spiralglass. One of these pieces was selected for inclusion into the White House Collection. Following my blown glass art, I have created a series of burns which are wood panels where I paint with molten glass on the woods surface creating a burned etching of sorts. I have incorporated these burn panels with mounted blown glass forms, paintings, and photography. However, as time moves on, I have recently experienced a large following and interest with my photography and graffiti-style paintings. My photography tends to focus on textured, patterned, and rustic images perhaps as a reflection of the architectural work I am involved with in the restoration and adaptive reuse buildings. My graffiti art has been received well and focuses on patterns found in buildings and in nature and connecting these 2 components. Most recently, I have started a collection of Artisan Plate Glass which is very architectural. Our products are known under the name of Light.Refracted. and after a couple years of testing these architecturally pleasing glass panes have hit the market and been very well received.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I have been in Dallas full-time since 1995, although have had several longer trips over the years to other places. The city has changed significantly over the years. This growth has brought more notoriety to design and artisticly creative people in the city. We have clusters of these people who have sought to bring themselves together to make the city an even better place. I enjoy being a part of this environment in any capacity. Oddly enough my least favorite thing about Dallas is the uncontrolled amount of growth our city has experienced over the last 5-10 years. Too many people coming in too fast, it seems to me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lookimagine.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lookimagine/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rees-bowen-81175b1a8
Image Credits
Rees Bowen
