Mark Gowing (b. 1970) is an artist and typographer working on Gadigal/Wangal country, Sydney, Australia. Through a creative practice spanning more than 35 years he has developed a personal inquiry into the poetry of form, grid and rhythm that he investigates using drawing, photography, found materials and abstracted applications of text. Gowing’s practice centres around the conceptual understanding of languages – graphic, written, oral or cultural. He employs rhythmic and textural interventions to elegantly abstract our agreed visual dialects, questioning our innate understanding of images, form and reading. His works often feature gestures of recontextualised form that create tensions in frequency and suggest alternatives to inherent narratives.
Gowing is the founder and director of The Letters, a type company that specialises in the development of expressive fonts. He is co-founder and creative director of the groundbreaking music arts organisation Longform Editions, and was founder of the landmark arts publisher Formist Editions. Through his highly acclaimed studio practice Gowing has produced creative projects for leading organisations and institutions with a passionate focus on visual art and language, design, film and music. He has been honoured with solo exhibitions at the 22nd International Poster Biennale in Warsaw, Poland; the Divieto d’Affissione in Turin, Italy; and Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. His work is held in numerous institutional collections including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, USA.
Solo Exhibitions
A realistic picture of a galloping horse, Woollahra Gallery at Readleaf, Sydney, Australia, 2024
30 Manifesti, Divieto d’Affissione, Turin, Italy, 2013
Music Art Film, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 2013
Laureates of 21st International Poster Biennale, Warsaw, Poland, 2010
Selected Group Exhibitions
Sydney Contemporary, Formist Editions stand, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia, 2022
Design Isolate, Australian Design Centre, Sydney, Australia, 2020
Segni Esemplari, Bodoni Museum of Parma, Italy, 2019
Art of Utopia, Museum for Contemporary Art, Bat Yam, Israel, 2017
Hangeul Calligraphy × Latin Typography, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea, 2016
How Posters Work, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, New York, USA, 2015
Nocturne, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2013
Stalled, Macquarie University Art Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2013
Sketches of Bacon, Damien Minton Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2013
Got the Message?, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Ballarat, Australia, 2013
Braun Systems, Walter Knoll Centre, London, UK, 2013
Graphic Material, UTS Gallery, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, 2010
Selected Projects
Mark Gowing Studio, visual communications, founder and director, 1997–ongoing
The Letters, font publisher, founder and director, 2015–ongoing
Longform Editions, curatorial sound art project, collaboration with Andrew Khedoori, 2018–ongoing
Formist Editions, art and design publisher, founder and director, 2013–2024
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, The First 40 Years, publication management and design, Formist Editions, 2024
Jonathan Jones, untitled (transcriptions of country), publication management and design, Artspace & Formist Editions, 2023
Kapitol, font family design, The Letters, 2023
Kapitol, Formist Foundry Typeface Companion 01, publication author, photography and design, Formist Editions, 2022
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Ready-made Ruin, publication co-edited with Felicity Fenner and design, Formist Editions, 2022
Fiction, font family design, The Letters, 2021
Jonathan Jones, works on paper 2010–19, publication management and design, Formist Editions, 2021
Taloi Havini, Reclamation, publication management and design, Artspace & Formist Editions, 2021
Kris Sowersby: The Art of Letters, publication author/editor and design, Formist Editions, 2021
Making Art Public, Kaldor Public Art Projects 1969–2019, publication co-edited with Genevieve O’Callaghan and design, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2020
Boulder Mono, font family design, The Letters, 2019
Angelica Mesiti, Assembly, publication management and design, Australia Council for the Arts, 2019
Ficciones Typografika: 1642, publication editor and design, Formist Editions, 2019
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, management and design of 30 publications, 2008–2018
Gemma Smith: Found Ground, publication editor and design, Formist Editions, 2018
Outside Material, The cover art of Preservation Music, publication editor and design, Formist Editions, 2017
Preservation Music, experimental music label, co–founder and director, 2001–2017
Jonathan Jones, barrangal dyara (skin and bones), publication management and design, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2016
Serous, font family design, The Letters, 2015
Australian Poster Biennale, exhibition director, 2013
Australian Poster Annual, exhibition director, 2011
EyeSaw, exhibition curator, 2008
Selected Publications
Sandie Don & Mark Gowing: We were only inches away, Formist Editions, 2022
Mark Gowing: Inside the Oblong, Formist Editions, 2020
Studio Culture Now, featured, Unit Editions, 2020
The History of Graphic Design Volume 2: 1960–Today, featured, Jens Muller, Taschen, 2018
Hangeul Calligraphy × Latin Typography, featured, Seoul Arts Center, 2016
How Posters Work, featured, Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, 2015
Got the Message?: 50 years of political posters, Geoffrey J Wallis, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Australia, 2013
New Masters of Poster Design Volume Two, featured, John Foster, Rockport Publishers, 2012
Selected Lectures
Semi Permanent, Sydney, Australia, 2022
AGI Open, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2019
Semi Permanent, Auckland, New Zealand, 2017
State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2017
AGI Congress, Biel, Switzerland, 2015
Mexico International Poster Biennale, Mexico City, Mexico, 2014
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, 2013
University of Technology Sydney, Australia, 2012
agIdeas, Melbourne, Australia, 2008
Sydney Design Week, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia, 2006
Contact
Mark Gowing is available for commissions, collaborations and private sales. Please email the studio for more information.
Email
Instagram
Look here for Mark Gowing Studio visual communications.
Mark Gowing fonts are available from The Letters.