Patrick Howlett’s paintings create an interplay between ideas of abstraction and representation. This interplay unfolds through suggestions of narrative possibilities and formal satisfaction. Thought of as burlesque abstractions, the paintings exhibit the transformations and process of their creation. The promise of completeness  is quietly sustained as the formal qualities of the work engage the viewer in there own performance. Elusive and playful, sincere and somewhat absurd, the work stubbornly flirts with the tradition of painting and ideas of abstraction. The result is work that modestly exposes the doubts and decisions of its making and in so doing achieves a delicate tension between image and material.

Howlett is originally from Ontario, where he attended BealArt in London. He completed a B.F.A at Concordia in 1997 and a M.F.A at the University of Victoria in 2006. He has lived in Montreal, Victoria and is currently in Fredericton, New Brunswick where he teaches at St. Thomas University.

Contact

hello.howlett@gmail.com