Dean Bowen is an Australian sculptor, painter and printmaker. Born in 1957, he has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally for many years. He has held one hundred solo exhibitions in Australia, France, Japan, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

His paintings and bronze sculptures address the human condition and are known for their renditions of personages, animals, urban and rural environments and quirky characters that evoke the simple pleasures of human habitation in optimistic ways within the contemporary world.

He has received a number of major sculpture commissions and awards including the City of Wodonga High Street redevelopment Sculpture Commissions 2019 and 2018, Pt.Leo Sculpture Park Sculpture Commissions 2017, City of Albury Sculpture Commission Laverton Library 2014,Grimwade House Melbourne Grammar School Sculpture Commission 2014, Deakin University Burwood Campus Sculpture Commission 2013, Hamilton Art Gallery Sculpture Commission 2013, Wyndham City Sculpture Commission 2012, ArtsACT Sculpture Commission 2011, Colas Fondation Commission, Paris, France 2010;Hobson's Bay City Council, Sculpture Commission 2010; Canterbury Primary School, Centennial Sculpture Commission 2008; City of Greater Shepparton Sculpture Commission 2006; Popular Choice Award, Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award 2003; Melbourne Town Hall Tapestry Commission, City of Melbourne 1995.

He has received awards in many international printmaking exhibitions including the Sapporo International Print Biennale, Japan, 1998, Osaka Print Triennale, Japan, 1994 and 1997, and the Print Biennial of Beijing 2003. He won the Fremantle Print Award in Western Australia in 1994. In 1999 he completed his Ph.D, Extending Printmaking at Monash University.

Dean Bowen's work is represented in over seventy national and international public Museum collections including, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne; Parliament House Art Collection Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Geelong Gallery; City of Melbourne and Fukuoka Museum of Art, Japan.

In 2020 a Documentary Film, ‘Argy Bargy, a Contemplative Journey’, was made by Peter Lamont of Handmade Films (Australia). The 55minute film provides an overview of the artist’s studio practice, sculpture projects and exhibitions with interviews by leading sculpture curators and writers.

A major monograph of the artist's work, Nitty Gritty: The Sculpture of Dean Bowen, by Andrew Stephens was published in 2021 by Australian Scholarly Publishing. The book documents his sculpture from 1995 to 2021.

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