Ben Howe

The bulk of Howe’s work circles issues of representation, structure and consciousness.  He creates paintings which are disruptive to conventional Paradigms of aesthetic beauty.  Coming from a background of hyper realist painting, Howe often produces the initial subjects in sculptural form, and uses them as the genesis for his artworks.

The works frequently plumb feelings of impermanence and mortality or conversely, timelessness: a quality amplified by the impression of massive solidity.

By fracturing or reversing the order of unyielding forms, realigning their surfaces and altering their relationships, the paintings depict a struggle to reconcile the sum of disparate elements with the initial subject.

The viewer is compelled to come to terms with the ugliness of disfigurement, and emerge satisfied with a new and disorienting notion of beauty.