_TH_2406.jpg


soft, flabby and factice, 2016,
distemper and oil on linen,
213.5 x 152.5 cm
_TH_2400.jpg


Positive Space, 2016,
distemper and oil on linen on panel,
wood frame, 76 x 58 cm
Positron.jpg


Positron, 2016,
distemper on linen on panel,
painted wood frame, 42 x 32 cm
divisions and returns.jpg


divisions and returns, 2015,
distemper and oil on linen, 243.5 x 194 cm
unitholder 482.jpg


unitholder 482, 2014,
egg tempera and oil on panel, 41 x 51 cm
Coaching_LR.jpg


Coaching: Introductory Analysis of a Still Life, 2014,
distemper on linen, 244 x 183 cm
Empty Shelf_PH0137_MR.jpg


Empty Shelf, 2013,
distemper on canvas, 228.5 x 96.5 cm
Empty Shelf_PH0139_MR.jpg


Empty Shelf, 2013,
distemper on canvas, 228.5 x 165 cm
howlett_you_can_always.jpg


you can always come back (but you can’t come back all the way), 2012-13,
tempera on wood, 30 x 46 cm
howlett_the_future_for_me.jpg


the future for me is already a thing of the past, 2012-13,
tempera on wood, 30 x 46 cm
howlett_this_tiny_span.jpg


this tiny span, 2011-12,
gouache on paper, 61 x 91 cm
howlett_all_suppression.jpg


all suppression, 2012,
tempera on wood, 45 x 41 cm
howlett_how_hummingbirds.jpg


how hummingbirds choose flowers, 2012,
charcoal, watercolour, pencil, oil on linen, 171 x 168 cm
howlett_the_mind.jpg


the mind by the mind, 2010,
tempera on panel, 25 x 52 cm
howlett_superficial_agitation.jpg


superficial agitations of matter, 2010,
tempera on panel, 40 x 30 cm
howlett_to_know_oneself.jpg


to know oneself does not seem natural, 2010,
tempera on panel, 43 x 33 cm
howlett_slippage_between.jpg


slippage between, 2009,
tempera on panel,
61 x 53 cm
howlett_fools_are_more_impressed.jpg


fools are more impressed, 2009,
marker on panel, 53 x 48 cm
howlett_plastic_unity_of_existence.jpg


plastic unity of existence, 2008,
tempera on panel, 34 x 47 cm
howlett_an_interplay_of_something.jpg


an interplay of something, 2008,
tempera on panel, 41 x 44 cm
howlett_towards_its_expressive_peak.jpg


toward its expressive peak, 2008,
tempera on panel, 39 x 36 cm
howlett_curious_ability.jpg


curious ability, 2007, tempera on panel, 32 x 30 cm
howlett_seemingly_carelessly.jpg


seemingly carelessly, 2007, tempera on panel, 39 x 36 cm

Patrick Howlett

Patrick Howlett’s enigmatic paintings investigate the indeterminate nature of meaning in abstraction. His works are derived from a long process of transformations of images and text, a strategy that obfuscates a certain position of meaning while elaborating another.

“ The possible relation of title to image is an indeterminate one that plays one role in the creation my work and another in the experience of it. In some ways I use it as a cornerstone, in other ways it is a guide and a link and in another way it is meaningless. Having a title might create awareness of the gap between meaning and thing or intellect and intuition while at the same time create connections. If there is a strain, perhaps it can function as an antidote to the abstraction that takes place through language  all the time. ”

— Patrick Howlett

1971
born in Toronto, Ontario
1997
BFA, Concordia University, Montréal
2006
MFA, University of Victoria, Victoria

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2022
MILIEU INTÉRIEUR,
   Joe Project, Montreal
miraculous network,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2020
texting the humours,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2019
The Slow Rhythms of Reason,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2017
The Personal Atmosphere,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2015
unitholders, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2014

Improving Your Squash, G Gallery, Toronto

Part time Offerings, Museum London, London

2012
How Hummingbirds Choose Flowers,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

2010
review, The Khyber Institute of
   Contemporary Art, Halifax
the possible and the real,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition

Facts about Digestion, Yellow Box Gallery,
   Saint Thomas University, Fredericton
2008
the higher you get the higher you get,
   Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto
and, but, however, Struts Gallery, Sackville
2006
menu, Main Gallery, Visual Art Building,
   University of Victoria

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024
Leaking Logic, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

   about the exhibition


2019                      

The Clock That Went Backward, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Heads, McIntosh Gallery, Western University, London


2018                       

Line & Verse: Canada-Taiwan Exchange, East Asian Library, Toronto


2017                      

A Viewing Room v.2, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto

Public Information, Carl Louie, London


2016                      

<<J...>, Librairie Blaizot, Paris, France


2015                       

Para//el Room, DNA Artspace, London


2014                       

Magenta wants to push physical reality to its leaky margins, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto


2013                       

No Boys with Frogs, DNA Artspace, London

More Than Two (Let It Make Itself), The Power Plant, Toronto

Simple Present, Future Anterior: a 20th Anniversary Show, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto


2011                      

Zig Zag, Charlie Dutton Gallery, London

Pas Tout à Fait... / Not Quite.... Stewart Hall Art Gallery, Pointe-Claire, Québec


2010                       

Autofunction, G Gallery, Toronto

Site Exercises, Susan Hobbs, Toronto


2009                       

Double Confluence (with Kelly Jazvac and Mitzi Pedersen), Atelierhof Kreuzberg, Berlin

RBC Canadian Painting Competition, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Art Gallery of Edmonton, Edmonton; Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon


2008

RBC Canadian Painting Competition, The Power Plant, Toronto; Museum London, London; Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa          

düsseldorf contemporary redux, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto


2006                       

Trip-In: The Ontology of the Imaginative Realm, Susan Hobbs Gallery, Toronto


2005                       

RPM. Deluge Gallery, Victoria




 

FrameWork 6/24

by Ashley Culver (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, June 2024

read (pdf)

FrameWork 4/24

by Ella Spitzer-Stephan (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, April 2024

read English version (pdf)

FrameWork 10/22

by Mathilde Varanese (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, October 2022

read (pdf)

FrameWork 10/20

by Pardiss Amerian, Ella Gonzales and Patrick Howlett
(essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, October 2020

read (pdf)

FrameWork 6/19

by Anouchka Freybe (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, June 2019

read (pdf)

Feeling Good, Feeling Bad: The Self-Help Vibrations of Patrick Howlett

by Heather White (review)

Momus, 19 January 2017

read (pdf)

FrameWork 12/16

by Alex Bowron (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, December 2016

read (pdf)

FrameWork 6/15

by Jordy Hamilton (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, June 2015

read the full text (pdf)

PART-TIME OFFERINGS

by Cassandra Getty, Robin Peck, Annie Cash
(exhibition catalogue)

Musum London, 2014

Patrick Howlett

by Ben Portis (review)

Canadian Art, Winter 2015

What Is and What Is Not: Patrick Howlett at G Gallery

by Brad Phillips (review)

ArtSlant, August 2014

read (pdf)

Patrick Howlett at Museum London

by Kim Neudorf (review)

akimblog, 20 May 2014

Howlett's exhibition explores Offerings

by Joe Belanger (review)

London Free Press, 11 May 2014

Patrick Howlett

by John Kissick (article)

RBC Canadian Painting Competition: Fifteen-Year Anniversary, 2013

Patrick Howlett

by E.C. Woodley (review)

Border Crossings, Issue 126, May 2013

How Hummingbird?

by Robert Linsley (review)

newabstraction.net, February 2013

read (pdf)

Patrick Howlett Draws Fresh Vectors for Painting

by Wojciech Olejnik (review)

Canadian Art online, January 2013

read (pdf)

FrameWork 1/13

by Kim Neudorf (essay)

Susan Hobbs Gallery, January 2013

read (pdf)

Patrick Howlett: the possible and the real

by Adam Lauder (review)

Hunter and Cook 08, Winter 2011

read (pdf)

... Pas tout à fait ... Not Quite ...

by Lon Dubinsky (catalogue)

Pointe Claire: Galerie d’art Stewart Hall, 2011

Patrick Howlett: Possibly Real

by Richard Rhodes (review)

canadianart.ca, 14 September 2010

visit (www.canadianart.ca)

Berlin

by Rodney LaTourelle (review)

Akimblog, 28 July 2009

visit (www.akimbo.ca)

Art Wanderings 2

by Chris Le Page (review)

clonegallery.wordpress.com, 15 February 2009

visit (clonegallery.wordpress.com)

Eye Candy

by David Balzer (review)

Eye Weekly, 30 December 2008

Gallery Going

by Gary Michael Dault (review)

The Globe and Mail, 27 December 2008

the higher you get the higher you get

by Katherine Laidlaw (review)

thingsofdesire.ca, 11 December 2008

Creative, Independent, thinker

by Laverne Stewart (article)

The Daily Gleaner, 13 September 2008

Dusseldorf Do

by Leah Sandals (review)

Now Magazine, 17-24 July 2008

RBC Canadian Painting Competition: Ten Years

by ed. Lauren MacMillan (book)

Toronto: Royal Bank of Canada, 2008

Fresh Wind from the West

by David Jaeger (review)

NOW Magazine, 2-8 March 2006

Trip-in

by Betty Ann Jordan (preview)

Toronto Life, February 2006

Reflets III

by Robert Dufour (exhibition text)

Opuscule, May 2003