Michael Howard

As a painter Michael Howard regards himself as a kind of filter or interpreter of the world around him. His Landscapes often focus on the presence of human activity, walls, tracks, hedgerows, rural industry, farming and other traces that define and shape the hills and mountains that surround his home near Brecon in Powys. These paintings reflect the point where memory, experience and imagination converge. Observing the natural abstract qualities in nature, Michael’s paintings demonstrate a deep sense of familiarity with the landscape, however maximum resemblance holds little interest for him and his paintings reveal themselves slowly and continually.  His work combines painterly abstract values with radical ideas about the landscape. They are topographically faithful, but they are much more about the speed of gesture, the application of materials, colour selection, confident mark making and the struggle to resolve the visual issues and problems that are a constant companion of the creative process. In short his artwork is primarily about pure painting.