New exhibition at Manchester’s Castlefield Gallery to present work by Dr Jo McGonigal and Sir Frank Bowling

Jo McGonigal will be showing new paintings alongside work by Sir Frank Bowling at Manchester's Castlefield Gallery, as part of a new programme of exhibitions marking the gallery’s 40 year anniversary.

Opening on 20 October, 40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling will bring together two painters whose works have drawn inspiration from sculpture.

Housed in Castlefield Gallery’s distinct architect-designed interior, this dynamic exhibition will bring together site-specific ‘spatial paintings’ by Dr Jo McGonigal with paintings and sculptures by Sir Frank Bowling.

Each artist’s practice has a highly imaginative and unconventional engagement with pictorial and physical space. As an exhibition, 40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling will explore new ways of thinking about the relationship between painting, sculpture and architecture. 

Jo McGonigal, Unsaid. So-said. Missaid. (2019) at Edinburgh College of Art. Image courtesy of the artist.

Artist Jo McGonigal lives and works in Manchester, and is a Lecturer in Fine Art in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds. McGonigal’s paintings leave the constraints of the canvas behind, to interact directly with the environment in which her works are placed. She is interested in the interaction between painting and architecture as well as deconstructing the internal architecture of painting itself.

Recent works involve applying layers of traditional gesso, normally used to prime canvases, directly on to the gallery walls before introducing lines of coloured chalk, piles of pigment geometric structures, textile and archaeological elements into formal abstract compositions. McGonigal combines these elements to enable a visual and sensory engagement with the tactile, spatial, durational and imaginative capacities of painting that activate the body as much as the eye. 

Frank Bowling, Sasha's Green Bag, 1988, Acrylic, acrylic gel, polyurethane foam and found objects on canvas with marouflage, 180.6 x 294.2 cm. © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2022. Courtesy the artist. Photographed by Anna Arca.

Sir Frank Bowling is one of the foremost British artists of his generation. Bowling has been exploring the possibilities of paint for over six decades. Renowned for his engagement with abstraction, his technically pioneering works mix new materials and methodologies to create bold, large-scale paintings. They demonstrate his grasp of structure and geometry, and some works feature heavily built-up layered surfaces of paint and various materials, forming artworks that could be characterised as sculptural paintings.

Frank Bowling, Mummybelli, 2019, Acrylic, acrylic gel and found objects on collaged canvas with marouflage, 171.3 x 206.8 cm. © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2022. Courtesy the artist. Photographed by Anna Arca.

In his book Frank Bowling: Sculpture (2022), writer and curator Sam Cornish delves into the sculptural aspects of Bowling’s art. He shares a story of how the artist once received an invitation from Castlefield Gallery in the 1980s to exhibit his paintings alongside the work of a contemporary sculptor: in reply, Bowling said that he would create the sculptures himself.

This led to a solo exhibition of Bowling’s paintings, works on paper and sculpture at the gallery in 1988. Bowling made a series of welded steel sculptures largely put together from the by-products of an engineering firm next to his studio. Like his paintings, the sculptures have multiple influences, playfully mixing references from high modernism, classical African sculpture, cubism and Russian constructivism. Except for a tour of this work at the time, the public has rarely had access to Bowling’s sculptures since.

Frank Bowling, Bulbul, 1988, Detail, Welded steel. © Frank Bowling, All Rights Reserved, DACS 2022. Courtesy the artist. Photographed by Anna Arca.

To celebrate its 40 year anniversary, Castlefield Gallery will present works from the original exhibition, alongside earlier and more recent paintings by Bowling and new works by McGonigal.

Bringing their work together is a unique opportunity to challenge our understanding of the relationship between painting and sculpture, as they explore the concepts of physical space and pictorial depth, surface and substance, seeing how one practice can enrich and influence the other.

The exhibition will also feature new writing by Professor Griselda Pollock (Professor emerita of Social & Critical Histories of Art at the University of Leeds) which responds to the work of McGonigal and Bowling.

Jo McGonigal, Act Seven: Paler, Blinder (2019) at the University of Leeds. Photographed by Jules Lister.

Matthew Pendergast, Castlefield Gallery Curator and Deputy Director, said:

“As Castlefield Gallery celebrates 40 years it gives us great pleasure to present works featured in the 1988 exhibition (Frank Bowling, 10 June to 23 July 1988), alongside more recent works by Bowling and new works by McGonigal.

“This exhibition enables us to continue to develop conversations around how we understand the mediums and techniques of painting and sculpture, and to demonstrate how one practice can enrich and influence the other.”

The exhibition will be accompanied by a public programme of events, including an in-conversation event with Jo McGonigal and Ben Bowling (Frank Bowling Studio), chaired by Professor Griselda Pollock.

Jo McGonigal, Dirty Gold (2016). Image courtesy of the artist.

More information

40 Years of the Future: Jo McGonigal x Frank Bowling opens on 20 October 2024 and runs to 2 February 2025.

A preview of the exhibition will take place on Thursday 17 October 2024, 6-8pm. No need to book, just come along.

Book a timed visit with additional restricted capacity in the gallery and enjoy the exhibition at your own pace at a Saturday Slow Preview on Saturday 19 October. This is also a chance for you to ask questions to Castlefield Gallery Curator and Deputy Director Matthew Pendergast. Book here.

Jo McGonigal will be in conversation with Ben Bowling from Frank Bowling Studio on 19 October (chaired by Professor Griselda Pollock). Find out more and book your place.

Find out more about the show and exhibition public programme on the Castlefield Gallery website.

The exhibition is generously supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and the University of Leeds.

Feature image

Jo McGonigal, Pale Ground (2023) in Studio2 at Robinwood Mill, Todmorden. Photographed by Simon Pantling.