.. 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. There is always an understanding that the spaces between the fragments are as important as the fragments themselves and with the lines which appear and disappear through the worked layers being randomly cut an interplay of control and chance which is an integral part of Howe’s construction method helps guide the painting toward a mutual resolution.

His paintings are an abstract exploration of our understanding of what we remember, what we forget, the dreams we form from half remembered memories of past times and the interpretation of these lost thoughts and memories by the retention of some but the loss of most. With the fragmentation of the substrate he invites the viewer to explore the disrupted and worked layers of paint and wood that he has evolved through both a physical and emotional expression with the understanding that although we have layer upon layer of memories we only remember fragments we never remember the whole.