Rachel Howard

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rachel Howard

Born 1969
Easington, Co. Durham, England
Nationality British
Field Painting
Movement Contemporary Art

Rachel Howard (born 1969) was raised in a Quaker household and is a contemporary artist, who lives and works in London.

Contents

[edit] Life and work

Rachel Howard graduated from Goldsmith's College in 1992 and became a studio assistant for Damien Hirst, who said, "I only ever made five spot paintings myself ... And my spots I painted are shite. They're shit compared to ... The best person who ever painted spots for me was Rachel. She's brilliant. Absolutely fucking brilliant. The best spot painting you can have by me is one painted by Rachel."[1]

Her own work mainly addresses the subject of suicide after the loss of a friend, and sources her subject matter from forensic websites. She pours household paint to make a shiny surface, on which she paints figures in black.[2] Sue Hubbard wrote in The Independent of her work :

“ The creation of these ambitious canvases is a psychological and physical battle, which demonstrates that there is still a role for emotionally articulate art that has something important to say about the poignancy and tragedy of the human condition.[2] ”

[edit] Exhibitions

Howard has been in group exhibitions including The Choice, Exit Art, New York (1998), Shimmering Substance, The Cornerhouse, Manchester and Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol (2002), Intuition/(imprecision) curated by Thomas Krens, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Saltzburg, Austria (2004) and In the Darkest Hour There May Be Light: works from Damien Hirst's murderme collection, Serpentine Gallery, London (2006). Recent solo exhibitions are Can't Breathe Without You, Anne Faggionato Fine Art, London (2003), Guilty (2003-04) and Fiction/Fear/Fact (2007), The Bohen Foundation, New York, and Rachel Howard, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles (2007).[3]

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Hirst, Damien and Burn, Gordon. On the Way to Work, p.90. Faber, 2001.
  2. ^ a b Hubbard, Sue. "A voyage to the dark side", The Independent, 2008-01-21. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.
  3. ^ "Rachel Howard biography". Haunch of Venison. Retrieved on 2008-02-24.