AUSTIN LOWREY

This is an introduction to a body of work by Austin Lowrey with information on the artist’s painting production and livelihood over the past several years living in Mexico.

The recent exhibition “A wrinkle in Time” marks the selection and installation by Sheridan Lowrey from over 300 paintings executed by Austin over the past six years of studio production in his San Miguel de Allende studio. Directed by and installed in Debra Broussard’s private San Miguel Art Loft, the exhibition title was adopted by Bouchard from a children’s award winning book by Madeleine L’Engle with strong connotations of humor, symptomatic of many of the paintings.

The works are acrylic, collage and mixed media on Arches 220 lb., 22" x 30" (vertical). From those 300 works, the first of 35 selected painting was Miasma, a comment on Donald Trump’s first swampy cabinet. The titles of those works with titles are important comments on the imagery and humor. What is the source of a particular painting? There has to be a “starter”.

You will note several themed sequences: “Roll Out the Barrel,” for example, is the cardboard center of a roll of paper towels deconstructed as the source of the compositions. The paper towel roll impression from wet paint-filled brushes being wiped leaves some great sources. “Make a Mark” is often employed to be followed-up with relationships to that mark or picking-up a painting scrap and placing it to be followed by many pickups and structured collages. In another, the reflection of the studio skylight on the paper sets up the compositional structure for the work; domestic tools, objects, items within the studio shelves provide sources and connection to historical and current affairs.

Austin’s many years as a collector and installation artist, graphic designer and screen printer/print-maker inform the approaches/results to structural and thematic relationships.

The exhibition prompted this site of the complete body of works by Austin.

“Austin! What a great show of your collage work. The presentation is beautiful. You’re a master. Your sense of humor, color, texture and skill is pretty remarkable… Big abrazos y aplausos.”

— Gene Johnson, Artist

Contact Austin or Austin’s daughter for information or comment.