Conduit Gallery is pleased to present LIFE-SIZE, a new body of paintings by New York-based artist Catherine Howe.

Working in acrylic, iridescent mineral pigments, and metal leaf on canvas, Howe takes a personal language of botanical painting to the edges of pure abstraction, creating a lyrical world where minuscule flowers speak to universal notions. The paintings are flower portraits born of nature's capacity to reflect our human qualities, connecting to a long thread of animism. They exist as a bridge between the world within and the world without, animating earthly materials into being, an imprint of action and agency.

The flora have been uprooted and freed from their earthly constraints. Gravity itself has been left behind as they move toward a new incarnation or dimension. Winding stems tremble and blossoms wave and beckon. Plant forms are embodied in painted relief, rendered in iridescent mineral pigments and metal leaf that project the solid, objective world of nature into the ineffable, ethereal realm of the spirit, surfaces shifting in hue as the light changes and the viewer moves in relation to the painting. It is now a world where nothing is alive without peril. But it is still a paradise, where each day may see nature rising again to flourish. These blooms possess a self-confidence and spirit that transcends earthbound woes.

Born in Buffalo, New York in 1959, Catherine Howe earned an MFA from SUNY Buffalo in 1983. Her work has been discussed in numerous publications including The New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, Artcritical, BOMB, Whitewall Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times. Her paintings have been exhibited extensively across the United States and abroad, with solo exhibitions at Von Lintel Gallery, Casey Kaplan Gallery, Claire Oliver Gallery, and Bill Maynes Gallery in New York; Kim Light Gallery in Los Angeles; Salama Caro Gallery in London; Yukiko Kawase in Paris; Johan Jonker in Amsterdam; and Conduit Gallery in Dallas, among many others. She is currently a Professor on the Graduate Painting Faculty at the New York Academy of Art. Catherine Howe lives and works in Manhattan and the Hudson Valley.

Artists in this Exhibition

• Catherine Howe

Artist Video