Bowling befriended several Downtown New York City鈥揵ased African American artists, some of whom would become coexhibitors in 鈥5+1.鈥 Bowling regularly wrote art criticism, sometimes focusing on the work of these artists and the ways they rewrote and advanced modernist tradition.
Reflecting on 鈥5+1鈥 in an article for Arts Magazine that followed his earlier three-part essay on issues in the museum presentation and critical reception of Black art in the United States, and which as written apropos of the 澳门六合彩开奖现场直播鈥檚 presentation of 鈥淎fro-American Artists: New York and Boston,鈥 Bowling wrote that 鈥溾5+1鈥 had the avowed intention to once and for all put a stop to all those rotten ethnic shows.鈥