Rosalind Howdle

The act of representing something is philosophically rich, problematic even, but it is the mutability of representation possible in art that I am driven by. For me, figuration is alive. The metamorphoses taking place in the course of painting seem to mimic the biological processes that underpin my subject matter: evolution, reproduction, and self-repair. Organic forms regularly appear but are inaccurate, misremembered, or reimagined. By skewing recognisability and skirting definition, one can access a kind of non-verbal intelligibility that is painting-specific. I wish to challenge the categorical impulse of language, but not through reduction. This is not a journey into abstraction, but a journey out of categorisation, and thus possibly out of learned hierarchies. My recent series of work looks at the subversive capacities of decoration and frivolity, and more generally, is an inquiry into the nature of love and care. I’m interested in what happens at the boundary between two people, two entities, or two paintings – in the electric charge of the dividing line.

Education:

MA Painting (Hons.), Royal College of Art, London, 2020-2022

BA Painting (Hons.), Camberwell College of Arts, UAL, 2019  

Semester abroad at Emily Carr University, Vancouver

Pre-College Program at The Rhode Island School of Design

 

Awards:

Artlyst ‘Ones to Watch’ 2023

Shortlisted for ‘Now Introducing’ Prize 2022

The Ali H. Alkazzi Scholarship 2020-2022

The Vanguard Prize 2019

 

Selected shows:

2023     Tomorrow is Tomorrow is Tomorrow, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London

Sweet Spot, Blank Gallery, Shanghai

 

2022    

Now Introducing 2022, Studio West Gallery, London

Good Oblivion, The Function Suite, London

A Feast for the Eyes, Start Art Fair, Seoul

Anywhere in Between, The Tub Hackney, London

What is Becoming Us, Rupturexibit, London

RCA 2022 Degree Show, London

  Summer Fling, L.U.P.O. Gallery, Milan

Too Much Fruit on the Cake, Take Courage Gallery, London

 

2021       

 UNreal, Art CC, London

RCA WIP Show, (Online)

Life on Venus, The Tub Hackney, London

 

2020        

Verified Amateurs, hARTslane, London

 

2019        

Camberwell College of Arts Degree Show, London

Cell Block Tango, Deptford Police Cells, London    

P2, Copeland Gallery, London    

P.O.V., The Flying Dutchman, London