Gaze was painted by Sian Bowen in 2006.

Where can I see Gaze?

Gaze is held by Victoria and Albert Museum.

Artwork

Gaze

Sian Bowen , 2006

Gaze is a drawing by Sian Bowen. It dates from 2006 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

About this work

Siân Bowen made "Gaze" in 2006-2007 as part of an 18-month residency at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her drawings often mix layers and cuts of paper, not just pencil lines.

During her stay she studied old Japanese papers from the 1870s Parkes collection. The fragile, historic sheets led her to recreate fading paper treatments in her own work.

Look up this artist next: Bowen, Sian.

Overview

Siân Bowen created Gaze during an 18-month residency at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2006–2007. Rather than traditional pencil or ink drawing, she constructed the work through layered, cut, and treated papers, expanding drawing into a tactile, material practice. Her process was deeply informed by the museum’s collections, particularly historic Japanese papers and conservation techniques.

Subject & Meaning

Gaze engages with the act of looking and the mediation of vision.

Gaze engages with the act of looking and the mediation of vision. Inspired by the 18th-century Claude Glass—a convex mirror used by artists to frame and tone views—Bowen used a replica to observe and interpret objects in the V&A’s collection. The harlequinade, a small folding book of Cinderella’s tale, became a focal point, resonating with her earlier encounter with a Japanese folding tea house, linking narrative, structure, and transience.

Technique & Style

Bowen employed historically significant paper treatments, including persimmon-dyed sheets for their reddish-brown hue and water resistance, indigo-dip-dyed papers layered up to nine times for deep purplish tones, and clay-brushed surfaces. She combined these with vellum and cut or pierced elements, creating complex textures that emphasize material history over linear representation. The work resists conventional drawing by prioritizing physicality and layering.

History & Provenance

The work emerged from Bowen’s study of the Harry S. Parkes collection of Japanese papers, gathered in Japan around 1870 and held at the V&A. These fragile, aging sheets prompted her to reconstruct lost paper-making methods. She sourced or recreated materials to mirror their qualities, embedding the archive’s legacy directly into the artwork’s substance. Gaze was produced as the centerpiece for her 2007 exhibition Drawing, Context and the Collection.

Context

Bowen’s residency bridged contemporary art practice with the museum’s conservation and curatorial departments. Her engagement with historic materials reflected broader institutional interests in material culture and preservation. By reactivating forgotten techniques, she positioned drawing not as a preparatory act but as a form of archival inquiry, connecting past craftsmanship with present artistic exploration.

Legacy

Gaze exemplifies how contemporary drawing can extend beyond mark-making into material archaeology. Bowen’s integration of historical paper treatments and reflective viewing tools influenced subsequent discussions on the role of craft in conceptual art. Her work remains a reference point for artists exploring the intersection of conservation, memory, and the physicality of paper.