Mark Gowing

Mark Gowing lives and works 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 abstracted applications of text and systems. Gowing’s practice centres around the conceptual understanding of languages – graphic, written, oral or cultural. In order to question our innate understandings, Gowing’s works often explore his written phrasing within a lyrical context, expressing visually discernable musical rhythms and frequencies.

Gowing is the founder and director of The Letters, a type company that specialises in the development of expressive fonts and was founder and director of the landmark arts publisher Formist Editions from 2013 to 2024. 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

• This one is a song (forthcoming), Damien Minton Presents, Sydney, 2025

• Sandie Don & Mark Gowing: We were only inches away, Woollahra Gallery at Readleaf, Sydney, 2025

• Lane Cove Library, 70th anniversary, Sydney, Australia, 2025

• Division, Airspace Projects, Sydney, Australia, 2024

• 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

• Waverley Art Prize 2025 (forthcoming), Finalist, Bondi Pavilion Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2025

• Immortal, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2025

• Fishers Ghost Art Award 2024, Finalist, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney, Australia, 2024

• Paper Form, Articulate Project Space, Sydney, Australia, 2024

• Vincent Prize 2024, Finalist, Scratch Art Space, Sydney, Australia, 2024

• Oasis, Saint Cloche Gallery, Sydney, Australia, 2024

• Bayside Painting Prize 2024, Finalist, Bayside Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, 2024

• 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

• 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

• The Letters, font publisher, founder and director, 2015–ongoing

• Holiday × Mark Gowing collaboration (forthcoming), Leif, 2025

• Longform Editions, curatorial sound art project, co-founder and co-director with Andrew Khedoori, 2018–2025

• 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, Formist Foundry Typeface Companion 01, publication author, photography and design, Formist Editions, 2022

• Kapitol, font family design, The Letters, 2023

• 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

• SCAF Reader, limited edition chair design, Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation, 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, Unit Editions, 2020

• ‍The History of Graphic Design Volume 2: 1960–Today, Jens Muller, Taschen, 2018

• ‍Hangeul Calligraphy × Latin Typography, Seoul Arts Center, 2016

• How Posters Work, 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, John Foster, Rockport Publishers, 2012