Guyanese-British artist Frank Bowling has been awarded the 2022 Wolfgang Hahn Prize. An award ceremony will take place on 15 November at Museum Ludwig, Cologne, where Bowling’s work will also be on show in an exhibition.
The 87-year-old artist’s painting, Flogging the Dead Donkey (2020), a bright red field of colour with an ominous smudge of burgundy-brown reminiscent of dried blood, has been acquired by the museum – Bowling’s first work to be held in a German public collection. He will also receive up to €100,000 (around £85,000) in prize money.
On the selection of Bowling as prizewinner, Zoé Whitley (director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London), a juror for the prize, said in a press statement: ‘It is no exaggeration to say that Frank Bowling’s paintings and critical writings have redefined the possibilities of painting. It pays tribute to a determined and uniquely inventive personality in the history of abstract painting.’
