Working in multiple media including photography, reproduction and drawing, Mark Gowing’s practice centres around the conceptual understanding of language, be it oral, written, graphic or cultural. Gowing employs rhythmic and textural interventions to elegantly abstract our agreed visual dialects, questioning our innate understanding of images, form and reading. His works possess a wide range of styles and often feature made and found imagery, formally deconstructed type systems and expressive gestures of form that are recontextualised, creating tensions in frequency and suggesting alternatives to inherent narratives.
Mark Gowing is an artist, designer and publisher working in Sydney, Australia. He is the director of Formist, a publisher, type foundry and design studio, which specialises in books, typefaces and cultural commissions. Gowing is also co-founder of the groundbreaking music arts organisation Longform Editions. With a practice spanning more than 30 years, Gowing has produced 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. Gowing is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) and his work is held in numerous institutional collections including the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, USA.
Solo Exhibitions
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, 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
Formist Editions, art and design publisher, formisteditions.co, founder and director, 2013–ongoing
Formist Foundry, font publisher, formistfoundry.co, founder and director, 2015–ongoing
Longform Editions, sound art project, longformeditions.com, collaboration with Andrew Khedoori, 2018–ongoing
Claire Healy & Sean Cordeiro, Ready-made Ruin, publication, co-edited with Felicity Fenner, Formist Editions, 2022
Kris Sowersby: The Art of Letters, publication, author/editor, Formist Editions, 2021
Making Art Public, Kaldor Public Art Projects 1969–2019, publication, co-edited with Genevieve O’Callaghan, Kaldor Public Art Projects, 2020
Ficciones Typografika: 1642, publication, editor, Formist Editions, 2019
SCAF Reader, chair/shelves design and production, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, 2018
Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, publications, design and production of 30 publications, 2008–2018
Gemma Smith: Found Ground, publication, editor, Formist Editions, 2018
Stephen Ormandy: Only Dancing, publication, editor, Formist Editions, 2017
Daniel Eatock: Pens Paper, publication, editor, Formist Editions, 2016
Venice Architecture Biennale 2016, curatorial competition finalist, collaboration with Andrew Burns, 2015
Venice Architecture Biennale 2014, curatorial competition finalist, collaboration with Andrew Burns and Brett Boardman, 2013
Preservation Music, experimental music label, co–founder and director, 2001–2017
Hopscotch Films identity, design and creation of all elements, 2001–2012
Selected Publications
Sandie Don & Mark Gowing: We were only inches away, Formist Editions, 2022
Studio Culture Now, featured, Unit Editions, 2020
Mark Gowing: Inside the Oblong, Formist Editions, 2020
The History of Graphic Design Volume 2: 1960–Today, featured, Taschen, 2018
Hangeul Calligraphy × Latin Typography, featured, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea, 2016
New Masters of Poster Design Volume Two, featured, 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
