Dr. Eddie Chambers

Join us for "The Delayed Presence of Bowling, Williams, et al," a lecture presented by Dr. Eddie Chambers in conjunction with the special exhibition Feeling Color: Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling. Organized by the Modern and Curator María Elena Ortiz, the exhibition brings together for the first time the work of these two groundbreaking artists, highlighting their individual contributions to late-twentieth-century abstraction. Williams and Bowling, both originally from Guyana, pursued distinct artistic paths despite their shared connections to London. The exhibition showcases key works from Williams’s series Shostakovich, 1980-81, and Olmec-Maya and Now, 1982-88, reflecting his deep engagement with music and Pre-Columbian cultures, alongside Bowling’s influential Map Paintings, 1967-71, and later Poured Paintings, 1977-78, which explore both the materiality of paint and sociopolitical themes.

Dr. Eddie Chambers, a leading scholar of African diaspora art history, will provide insight into the complex artistic legacies of Williams and Bowling, examining their belated recognition within broader art historical narratives. Chambers, who joined the University of Texas at Austin in 2010, holds the David Bruton, Jr. Centennial Professorship in Art History. Both an artist and curator, he has worked extensively with modern and contemporary artists, including Bowling, and has published widely on Black British art. His deep engagement with postwar visual culture and critical contributions to the field position him as an essential voice in contextualizing the work of Williams, Bowling, and their contemporaries.