Artist Statement:

The influences and inspirations Geoffrey has for these paintings come from a passion for trees and woodlands and how living beings move and respond within the natural world. Using a combination of paint, ply, fire and physical intervention his paintings are an abstract exploration of this visual environment. 

 

The basic elements that support the cycle of existence in the natural world with an emphasis on how woodlands and landscapes are formed and linked to how man and beast move through them by way of naturally formed pathways provide the abstract concepts that underpin his work. Light and dark, layer upon layer, repetition and erosion, destruction and regeneration. Repeated paint layers of a reductive palette are applied to a ply surface which are subsequently eroded by a combination of cutting, burning and brushing. 

 

‘.. dark and light, light and dark, repeat, repeat, repeat, over and over again, erode, rearrange, change until we can no more.’

 

With shades of light, shapes, textures and patterns his paintings are constructions to explore with deliberate and accidental marks subtlety included within the layers and surface disruption, light and dark formations burnt into the surface and regular grid lines cut into the painted substrate.

The grids provide divisions that can be interpreted at close hand as individual landscapes or small individual light and form studies or from afar the geometric grids are also a nod to mapping and a method of introducing dividing lines to represent a sense of looking through the shadow lines and forms found within the thick brush of a woodland.

 

‘.. and as the darkness engulfs us are we filled with fear and apprehension or do we relish the safety of being unseen.’

 

The method of working, the introduction of a flame and the physical working of the surface are integral parts to his paintings. With an emphasis on repetition and erosion, often combined with grid formations and always allowing for chance his paintings are prompted and nudged towards a mutual resolution. 

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Biography: 

(b.1961)

Geoffrey Howe

After his formal art schooling and design degree studies many years ago he spent time working on furniture design projects with interior designers before working within woodlands and landscapes with the Woodland Trust and managing light and dark through a lens with Vitsoe. Whilst still working within these environments he set up his art practice in 2018 creating abstract art in various forms and materials for private collections and he became a full time artist in 2023. He is an active member of Herts Visual Arts and also leads the Abstract Art Group within Hertfordshire which holds monthly discussion meetings about all things 'abstract'.

His new collection for this year, 2025, entitled 'the light beyond the shadows', has been widely acclaimed and will be exhibited at Unit/08, Peckham in May.

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