Robin Greenwood talks to painter Frank Bowling about his life and work at the exhibition Drop, Roll, Slide, Drip… Frank Bowling's Poured Paintings 1973–8 at Tate Britain, on view through April 30, 2013.

Bowling remarks: "What we inherited from the first generation [of abstract expressionists] was the freedom to apply the paint in any which way you want, pouring it, spilling it, dripping it … It was a kind of exhilarating thing to feel, that you can make a work, and make a work that's really rich, and right on the way… to the best that's ever been done with paint by spilling and dripping, pouring… the whole thing was so open…"