123 Woolwich Street, Guelph, Ontario, N1H 3V1
- BIOGRAPHY
Robert Howson was born and raised in Sarnia, Ont. He attended the Art Fundamentals Program at Lambton College and- went on to visual arts at the University of Windsor in until 1989. He currently resides in Guelph Ont..
- email: roberthowson@home.com
- WALLPAPER
- This body of work is the powerful combination of the shooting range silhouette with the elegance and decorative
- qualities of wallpaper. The dramatic contrast provides a distorted and confused sense of beauty. With only the repetitive
- quality in common, it is evident that no matter how deep the "targets" are integrated into the patterns it is still highly visible
- and stirs an emotional response.
- From the walls of our living rooms, bedrooms and bathrooms to the layout of the firing range there is no escaping the
- reality that the targets represent.
- The purpose of this exhibit is not only to examine the reality of firearms but to explore the power and
- conditioning that the human target symbolizes. Sometimes relevant to the gun issue and sometimes in stark contrast
- the wallpaper provides the viewer with a contradiction of ideologies. Challenging the viewer to examine the human target for
- what it really is , an abstract shape that when laid out in a pattern is unlike any other pattern.
- "Pink and Blue"
- The Wallpaper Series
- This work is a powerful combination of the shooting range silhouette and the most innocent of pastel colors (pink and blue). These colors provide a sense of soothing, until the viewer realizes that the iamge are that of a human skeleton. Buried deep within the crowd lies a singular, black, firing range target.
Date of completion: 2000
Silkscreen & Acrylic Paint on Masonite
56cm x 76cm - The Wallpaper Series
- "Gentry Design"
- The Wallpaper Series
- This print of a floral vine over top of the human silhouette is powerful in its dramatic differences. The commonly used floral vine, climbing upwards, may be reminiscent of a funeral image. It is evident that no matter how deep the 'target' is integrated into the pattern it is still higlly visible and provides an emotionally charged response.
Silkscreen & Acrylic Paint on Masonite
56cm x 76cm
Unframed. - The Wallpaper Series
- "Classic Kitchen and Bath"
- The Wallpaper Series
- Untitled 1
- The Wallpaper Series
- 48" x 72"
- The Wallpaper Series
- "Vulnerable"
- The Anatomy Series
- This is a series of three images of the human 'target' silkscreened onto paper with anatomical parts printed over top.
The three images duplicate the realistic repetitive use of the human silhouette at a firing range. The piece is highly emotionally charged by including a fetus, the female breast adn the male torso.
Silkscreen on Paper
63cm x 174cm - The Anatomy Series
- "Targets"
- The Anatomy Series
- The series of five human silhouettes focus on the anatomy of the human body. From left to right they represent the spinal cord, heart and rib cage, back muscles, heart, lungs and stomach and the arterial system.
These images emphasize the medical reality of the potential physical destruction of the use of firearms. Each of these images represent one of the main and vital organs or systems of thehuman body.
Silkscreen on Paper
- The Anatomy Series
- View the TARGETS virtual show
+ An interview with Robert
- TARGETS: THE NEW PRETTY
GO TO PAGE 2
- INFO FOR ARTISTS
All artwork copyright © by the Artist
