.. and the fragments that remain.

 

Erosion, regeneration, repetition and the use of fire underpin Howe’s Art Practice. On painted wood boards he combines these key work methods with cut grid and arc lines and hard wire and soft bristle brushes to fragment the surface leaving a ghosting of what was before around amorphic shapes that are formed by instinct and the understanding that the spaces between the fragments are as important as the fragments themselves. The lines which appear and disappear through the worked layers are cut randomly to represent past thoughts and dreams, some crossing, some direct but all incomplete. This interplay between control and chance helps guide the paintings toward a mutual resolution.

With the fragmentation of the substrate and the taking away of paint layers he is exploring our understanding of memory and how little we retain and remember, an interpretation of lost thoughts and memories by the retention of some but the loss of most. Through both a physical and emotional expression he disrupts and works the layers of paint and wood creating a texture that is to be explored evoking a response that is both private and personal.

His paintings represent our separation from time, the looking back at our previous lives, the understanding that although we have layer upon layer of memories we only remember fragments we never remember the whole.