BIO

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Justin Bower (b. 1976, San Francisco, CA) is one of the most celebrated painters of his generation working in the grand tradition of monumental portraiture. His work over the last three decades consists of a series of archetypal faces that reflect what it means to live in an era of unprecedented technological change. Bower’s dynamic aesthetic mixes the bravura of American realism and Abstract Expressionism with geometric motifs that seem to be glitching right before our eyes. His portraits emerge out of a virtual ether of atmospheric effects and thick impasto, where each piece is a virtuoso performance in paint. His personal story includes nearly being stabbed to death in southern California as a young man to becoming a top draft pick for the University of Arizona football team, both of which gave Bower a sense of resilience and the unwavering drive to build a career where his work has been collected by the world’s most influential patrons and respected institutions. 

Largely self-taught through years of experimentation and trusting the process of finding his own voice, Bower’s paintings have had a major impact on the rise of the neo-baroque in the 1990s, the ‘new aesthetic’ in the 2000s, glitch theory in the 2000-teens, and the post-digital paradigm in the 2020s. His breakout exhibition at ACE Gallery in Los Angeles was heralded by Pulitzer Prize winning critic Christorpher Knight as a moment where “bigger really is better” and Bower’s writings about art have been hailed as a “theoretical masterpiece” by Ken Wilber, the most widely read American philosopher working today, who has more than 25 books translated into 30 foreign languages. Bower was a recipient of Clarmont University Fellowship and the Feitelson Fellowship, the Orange County arts grant and TACFA award, and his work was recently recognized by the Joan Mitchell Foundation for its iconic power.

Bower’s paintings have regularly gone for double and triple their auction price at Sotheby’s. His collectors include Axl Rose, Ben Bourgeois, Bella Campen, Carlos Slim, Eugenio Lopez, Greg Conn, Nick Reed, Paula Goodman, Paul Thomas, Stuart Holt, Tim Redman, and Wendy Asher in addition to appearing in movies and television shows like Landman, the number one show on Paramount+ as well as Ridley Scott’s next major film project. His paintings have been exhibited alongside the work of Bas Jan Ader, Banksy, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Glenn Brown, Chuck Close, Mary Course, Valie Export, Urs Fischer, Wade Guyton, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelly, Martin Kippenberger, Elizabeth Payton, Robert Rauschenberg, and Julian Schnabel. Some of his most recognizable pieces are in the permanent collections of the Weisman Art Foundation, the Laguna Museum of Art, and the Cosmopolitan Collection in Las Vegas. His paintings were included in Tony Lee Moral’s book Picasso’s Playbook (HENI) alongside canonical figures like Tracy Emin, David Salle, Julie Mehretu, and Ai Wei Wei. 

Media

 Justin Bower Intersecting Technology and The Human Experience | Guy Hepner 

 JUSTIN BOWER INTERVIEW — COUTEUR 

 Altered States - Artillery Magazine - Contemporary art news and criticism 

 JUSTIN BOWER - DO ANDROIDS DREAM? | Maddox Gallery 

 artnet Asks: Artist Justin Bower Got Stabbed, Went to Grad School 

 Justin Bower: Poet of the Singularity | HuffPost Entertainment 

 JUSTIN BOWER – COACHELLA MAGAZINE 

 Beneath the Skin: The Paintings of Justin Bower | Artbound | Arts & Culture | PBS SoCal 

 Art Report Today: The Paddock Gallery presents "Hybrid Pantheon" with Painter Justin Bower 

 Justin Bower | Widewalls 

 Exclusive Interview with Justin Bower - Hi-Fructose Magazine 

 The Many Faces of Justin Bower - The Other Journal 

 Meet Justin Bower – CanvasRebel Magazine 

 Justin Bower: A Satellite of Direction - Execute Magazine! 

 Art review: Justin Bower at Ace Gallery - Los Angeles Times