space

Anthony Howell has held many professions since receiving his BFA at the University of Oklahoma in 1978, artist, architect, a lifelong aptitude for carpentry, professor of visual arts and notable scholar on pictographs and petroglyphs of the prehistoric Mogollon culture. His experience and knowledge in each of these fields has been mutually influential, forming complex interweavings between art history, technique and his creative endeavors.

Through his extensive travels in southern New Mexico, eastern Arizona, western Texas and northern Mexico he developed an appreciation and understanding of the land known as the upper Chihuahuan Desert. This area of land is the source that has evolved into his present works of art over the last several years.

space
There is an indulgence of the physical in my approach to the landscape and materials. Like Minimalism generally, my works are fundamentally impersonal and evinces a solemn austerity both in the portrayed landscape and physical presence of the art work.

What fascinates me is how the subject matter is viewed diversely by each viewer. Many viewers respond to the subject matter as a form of Arcadian Vision where the great expanses of land explore the sublimity of nature. It's allegories expose the unpredictability of life itself and the regenerative powers of nature. For myself, I try to divest human emotions and work with an open-ended minimal attitude.

The Chihuahuan Desert is inherently austere in biodiversity and physical composition. It mandates my approach to replication both in directness of concept and the interaction of perceived and real space. These works of art sometimes exceed a 15:1 ratio in height and width and hang frameless without adornment to reflect the extreme economy of the desert.

space

space