Gary Gowans began his formal art training after serving as an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War. Following graduation from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, Gowans did a quick tour of Europe on an old BMW motorcycle. Gowans has worked as Art Director and Illustrator for the St. Petersburg Times, as well as Art Director for Young and Rubicam.

Gowans’ career as an illustrator has resulted in freelance assignments for several major publications, including The Wall Street Journal and a fifteen-year relationship with several national sailing magazines. After living in the Charleston area for fifteen years, Gowans currently resides in New Bern, North Carolina.

When speaking about his painting, the artist mentions his varied choice of both subject matter and style, explaining, “I find a subject that’s interesting, select my viewpoint, and paint it in a technique appropriate to the subject.” The high realism in Gowans’ figures, still lifes and some landscapes is attention grabbing in its detail, while other works are more expressionistic, full of energy and bold, broken brushstrokes. This alternation of both style and subject is what keep his work fresh and always new. The artist continues, “I make an effort never to copy myself,” stating that each piece is a learning experience. Gowans also jokes that when the learning stops, that he’ll stop painting. I don’t expect that to happen anytime soon.