vague and hazy, 2010, tempera on panel, 54 x 51 cm
superficial agitations of matter, 2010,
tempera on panel,
40 x 30 cm
to know oneself does not seem natural, 2010,
tempera on panel,
43 x 33 cm
any tree might bear any fruit, 2009,
tempera on gesso on wood,
30.5 x 38 cm
slippage between, 2009,
tempera on panel,
61 x 53 cm
fools are more impressed, 2009,
marker on panel
53 x 48 cm
plastic unity of existence, 2008, tempera on panel, 34 x 47 cm
an interplay of something, 2008,
tempera on panel,
41 x 44 cm
toward its expressive peak, 2008,
tempera on panel
39 x 36 cm
curious ability, 2007, tempera on panel, 32 x 30 cm
seemingly carelessly, 2007, tempera on panel, 39 x 36 cm
Patrick Howlett’s small 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. ”
Selected Solo Exhibitions
Selected Group Exhibitions
Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver;
Art Gallery of Edmonton, Edmonton;
Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon
The Power Plant, Toronto;
Museum London, London;
Musée d’art contemporain, Montréal;
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Patrick Howlett: the possible and the real
by Adam Lauder (review)
Hunter and Cook 08, Winter 2011
... 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
Art Wanderings 2
by Chris Le Page (review)
clonegallery.wordpress.com, 15 February 2009
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
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