posted: June 2, 2010

A little while ago I came across a forgotten packet of black paper under the couch and tried a drawing with an old brush and some white paint. A week  or so later it was all used up and I wondered what to do with this very negative pile of pictures. I  edited them down to twenty and came up with the apologetic title –WHITE LIES ON BLACK PAPER – insincere and shallow reflections on the human condition. I’ve printed some (courtesy SVA) and I’m offering them as 17” x 13” prints at budget prices on Illogator and although they’re not exactly funny some of the more suicidal among you might find them mordantly cheerful.
P.S.  The whole series can be seen on You Tube

posted: March 9, 2010

 

When the Red Barron (Manfred von Richthofen) parked his Triplane and picked up brushes he chose the simple stage name Richter to embark upon a duplicitous career as both realist and abstract painter. Long since discovered, he is now accepted as a major icon in the world of Doppelgangers.

Flying under the radar for several decades and adopting the simple ploy of employing my optional middle initial H, I’ve also managed to maintain a similar duality almost entirely undetected. That is until a week ago.  An abstract painting, returned from an Albright-Knox Museum traveling show was hung anonymously in an upscale New York gallery. It was noticed by an astute gallery go-er and subsequently identified as the work of John H Howard aka John Howard. My cover blown, I’m attempting a pre-emptive strike against the scandal and offering a full disclosure.  The painting can be seen during the duration of the Samuels/Brovelli/Glabicki show at Kim Foster 529 W 20 after which its future and my dual identity remain uncertain, in limbo.

posted: February 11, 2010

The word seems to imply some scribbled momentary recording of the passing visual world. I prefer to keep notebooks. They do contain sketches and doodles but also accounts of transactions and payments for the privilege of experiencing this brief visit. Breezing through some of these countless volumes they seem to be charting the directionless meanderings of some clueless explorer who keeps these logbooks more for remembering a way back than discovering a way forward. A lifeline to a more comfortable place and time. That the possibility that most of this stuff is of little interest to anyone else has not escaped me. I’m not holding my breath but I’m hoping that pasting a few pages here might at least help me define a little more clearly, what I’ve been doing and which way I’ll be going. In the meantime, I’m sticking the tail on donkey#09 and have selected for family viewing ten of the  more palatable pages over there on the gallery list.

posted: January 21, 2010

Hey, you never know – A dinky editorial job for the op-ed page of Crains NY Business Weekly became a 182 illustration three year run. It just finished. When I get an email from the editor saying he had a regular spot on NPR and was off to run a program at CUNY the writing was on the wall. He’d found a new job and I’d lost my old one. Well it was fun while it lasted, and I’ll miss AD Steve Krupinski’s regular response to my sketches – “ number 1/2/3/4/ ‘s the winner!” and the downhill race to meet another Thursday deadline.

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Howard is teaching at TutorMill, an online mentoring site for students of illustration!