Dowell is one of those painters who appears never to have “learned” anything — she appears to just brilliantly paint what she likes, what she finds interesting, what can engage her long enough to commit the thing to canvas. Mostly, she paints cityscapes — buildings, phone wires and fire escapes. Her talent lies in making that mundane city skin worthy of our attention by conferring — through texture, perspective and color — the essence of a thing we typically discard with a glance.