Gravity and Gesture
Paintings by Mike Howard
ARTIST BIO
Mike Howard grew up in Phenix City, Alabama before moving to New York City in the
early 1970s.
After serving as a machine gunner and NSA in the U.S. Marine Corps, Howard attended
the University of Georgia. During his studies he was accepted into the coveted Whitney
Museum Independent Study Program in New York City. He received his Master of Fine
Arts from New York's Rutgers University in 1974.
Howard's works have been exhibited throughout the United States, from Hurtsboro, Alabama
to New York City. Notable exhibitions include The Whitney Museum, P.S. 1, the High
Museum in Atlanta and recently in the Rubell Family Collection Museum in Miami, Florida,
where a large portion of his collection resides permanently with the Rubell Museum.
He has been reviewed in The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, New Yorker and
Artforum.
He splits his time among Brooklyn, New York, Hurtsboro, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia.
We gratefully acknowledge artist Mike Howard for his generous gift of a significant collection of paintings to the 麻豆网站列表 Permanent Art Collection.
ARTIST STATEMENT
Mike Howard's Gravity and Gesture presents a bold and expressive body of work in which movement, meaning, and material experimentation intertwine. His gestural surfaces carry both emotional and physical weight鈥斺済ravity鈥 referring not only to the seriousness of his subjects but also to the downward pull of paint that becomes part of the imagery itself. A selection of Howard's works are painted on huge, unstretched canvases that hang loosely in space, inviting viewers to step close, feel enveloped, and almost walk into the imagery itself.
Symbolism runs throughout the exhibition. Floating fast-food imagery appears alongside references to the deaths of important artists; a depiction of the Lorraine Motel reflects on the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; portraits of people significant to the artist share space with leaping fish, shipwrecks, and other visual metaphors that explore memory, loss, humor, and cultural history.
A small selection of banners reflects Howard's occasional collaboration with his wife, Mary Howard, an acclaimed scenic designer known for her work with leading photographers.
