Joel Howe
Artist Statement:
My recent painting work has been primarily an exploration of process. I’m interested in the contrast between digital/photomechanical processes and hand-made work. My method of painting typically involves deconstructing a photographic image into component parts, and then reconstructing it with paint on canvas. I’m interested in how the camera (and the computer) process and store information, and conversely how our eyes and brains construct mental images using various bits of visual input.
I gravitate toward natural subject matter - transient natural phenomena (clouds, waves, trees, birds), frozen at first by the camera, but subsequently thawed out in the painting studio, becoming tactile and interactive in the process of re-forming into some new composition on the canvas. At times I merely intitiate the image-making process, letting “impermanent” materials such as rusting iron or copper oxidation form a patina to “develop” and complete the image. Such experimental processes continually surprise and engage me.
2023
My recent painting work has been primarily an exploration of process. I’m interested in the contrast between digital/photomechanical processes and hand-made work. My method of painting typically involves deconstructing a photographic image into component parts, and then reconstructing it with paint on canvas. I’m interested in how the camera (and the computer) process and store information, and conversely how our eyes and brains construct mental images using various bits of visual input.
I gravitate toward natural subject matter - transient natural phenomena (clouds, waves, trees, birds), frozen at first by the camera, but subsequently thawed out in the painting studio, becoming tactile and interactive in the process of re-forming into some new composition on the canvas. At times I merely intitiate the image-making process, letting “impermanent” materials such as rusting iron or copper oxidation form a patina to “develop” and complete the image. Such experimental processes continually surprise and engage me.
2023
Artist Bio:
Joel Howe is an artist from Cambridge, MA. His work focuses on natural subjects and the landscape, focusing on the process of image-making. His techniques frequently blend traditional painting methods with photographic, digital and printmaking techniques.
Howe’s work has been exhibited nationally in solo and group shows, including the Davis Art Center Gallery, San Francisco City Hall, SFMOMA Rental Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, the Danforth Museum, Deedee Shattuck Gallery, and the Somerville Museum.
Howe has an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, has taught photography classes at the Art Institute and UC Berkeley Extension School, and previously co-managed the Mass College of Art photo lab.
Joel Howe is an artist from Cambridge, MA. His work focuses on natural subjects and the landscape, focusing on the process of image-making. His techniques frequently blend traditional painting methods with photographic, digital and printmaking techniques.
Howe’s work has been exhibited nationally in solo and group shows, including the Davis Art Center Gallery, San Francisco City Hall, SFMOMA Rental Gallery, Griffin Museum of Photography, the Danforth Museum, Deedee Shattuck Gallery, and the Somerville Museum.
Howe has an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute, has taught photography classes at the Art Institute and UC Berkeley Extension School, and previously co-managed the Mass College of Art photo lab.
