Bully Magazine - RAHM BOWEN

Who are you and where are you from?
My name is Rahm and I’m an image & taste maker from Syracuse, NY however now I’m based in BK.

What brought you to the Bully world?
I met Bridget on the set of the Earth Seed editorial that was featured in ISSUE ONE. My friends Dylan and Quran were involved and they brought me in on it. Bobby later reached out and we randomly realized we have the same last name.

Who is someone you admire, and why?
I admire my Mom! She epitomizes the characteristics of a leader. It’s so natural to her. She has a charm about her that is so real and down to earth. Everyone who gets to know her loves her, and is always able to get great advice.

You were one of the models in the “Earth Seed” editorial in ISSUE ONE, what was that like for you?
My friends Dylan and Quran brought me onto that shoot and I’m so glad they did. Quran was the HMU artist on set and Dylan and I were modeling. It was the very first set that I was on at the top of 2021. Bridget, the photographer carries this really welcoming energy which made working with her so easy and fun, and she really reeled in the vision with the styling. That morning I remember her showing us all the looks and it got us all even more hype. I always have fun slipping into a new character.

Aside from modeling you create amazing art, what is your design process like? What led you to making art?
Thank you! I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember, and I’m blessed to come from a family of creatives who took note of my gifts early on and encouraged me to continue practicing. My mind is always full of ideas, so my process varies depending on the image I want to bring to life and the mediums I feel will be most fitting for the execution. Painting is a practice that’s helped me to become so much more patient and disciplined. Before I even touch canvas I’m usually building a sketch of some sort to help focus my direction and refine the image I see in my mind. I use underpainting as a way to build dimension and the richness that appears in skin using acrylics, and then I build up using layers of oil paints to further render textures and what I see as the “contours”. Watching makeup tutorials really helped me to understand where to properly place color on a face, and I really love oil paints because it allows for a really seamless blend. I’ve learned to lean into allowing a piece to fully come together once it’s ready, so sometimes I might start a piece just to get the foundation of that idea out and it might sit untouched for days, or even months. There’s a piece in my collection I really value that took me about 3 years to complete. I didn’t work on it consistently throughout that time, but I know for a fact I needed to build upon some internal and external research in ways before it could arrive to where it is today.

READ MORE ABOUT RAHM IN ISSUE ONE OF BULLY MAGAZINE HERE

Photography by Antonio Stephon
EARTH SEED Photography & Styling by Bridget Johnson