Artist Statement:

My influence is the light, form and emotion we find within woodlands and landscapes and the elements they provide such as horizons and tree structures and comes from a passion for protecting our natural habitats and how we as humans move and respond within the natural world.

 

The paintings are not of one subject but the essence of my experiences working and moving within woodlands and landscapes.

The loss of habitats and the need to protect our remaining woodlands and the importance of creating more habitat corridors are concerns that I try to reflect in my work as well as the emotions I feel when out on open moorland or deep within the shadows and dapple shades of enclosed woods.

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'As the darkness engulfs us are we filled with fear and apprehension or do we relish the safety of being unseen.'

 

I use abstract ideas in the composition and methods of working such as how pathways are formed. Repeated movement over the substrate and the following of the lands surface - repetition, erosion and the following of contours. The ground has to be repeatedly used by man or beast to erode its surface to confirm a paths existence if left and not used the land is reclaimed and the path exists no more.

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'Light and dark, dark and light, repeat, repeat, repeat, over and over again, erode, rearrange, change until we can no more.'

 

Using a combination of paint, ink, ply, fire and physical intervention my paintings are an abstract exploration of this visual environment. Repeated paint layers of a reductive palette are applied to the ply surface which are subsequently eroded by a combination of burning with flame and heated tools, scraping with various metal edged tools and brushing with different densities of brush and cloths.

 

'Each work is created by way of a constant stream of decisions having to be made, from the first mark on the board to the last, the last often being the most difficult to make.'

 

The introduction of a flame and the physical working of the surface are integral parts of my paintings representing the destruction and regeneration found throughout our natural environments. The inclusion of the enhanced wood grain by way of the controlled burning enables natural elements and textures to be followed and used as a necessary part of the paintings.

 

'Abstraction comes from the seed of thought.'

 

With an emphasis on repetition and erosion, often combined with isolated shapes and grand brush strokes and always allowing for chance the paintings are prompted and nudged towards a mutual resolution.

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Biography: 

Geoffrey Howe

After my formal art and design studies and some years working with interior designers on new house builds I worked within woodlands and landscapes with the Woodland Trust and managing light and dark through a lens with Vitsoe. I set up my art practice in 2005 creating abstract art in various forms and materials for private collections and galleries to run alongside my working with the Trust and Vitsoe. In 2023 I became a full time artist with my work being exhibited widely across the UK.

 

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