Brad Howe is known for his energetic sculptures and kinetic mobiles that evoke both the Modernist legacy of Alexander Calder and the frenetic energy of Joan Miró. This new series collectively demonstrates the artist’s ability to achieve balance through a series of oppositions. The title of the exhibition, “Deprivato,” immediately suggests associations of ‘lack,’ and while Howe may have left behind the bold color palette found in much of his previous work, there is no sense of deprivation in the current offering. Throughout the exhibition, the cool presence of stainless steel is countered by playful tints of color or intimate formal relationships. Against the back wall of the gallery, three small works are lined up on shelf-like pedestals: “Frock,” “Juice” and “Nudge.” The works combine Howe’s familiar kinetic forms with brushed stainless steel walls, or cave-like shields, which seem to shelter the more kinetic, delicate forms — the fragility of the moving elements is set against the stationary totemic forms. Across the gallery, another grouping includes “Inference,” “Blush” and “Proximity,” all of which achieve balance through the interaction that occurs between the formal elements. In each, monochromatic geometric shapes (blue, pink and yellow, respectively) engage with their metallic counterparts in various manners — piercing, stabilizing and finally reflecting. A sense of intimacy is created in the elegant “Sorrow.” The work is pared down to the essentials of two curving forms that seem to embrace one another, with reflective silver exteriors protecting their soft pink interiors. With no individualizing features, the two parts form a symbiotic unison through which Howe in a different way achieves a sense of harmonic balance.
Originally published in ArtScene (Feb 2013)
Molly Enholm