An extraordinary combination of delicate beauty and haunting imagery characterizes the photography of Michael Howard. His black and white silver gelatin prints on paper are striking, their subject matter abstracted yet utterly recognizable. His latest series possesses a stillness and quality that is supported by the subject matter – the moments frozen in time are mannequin figures seen through thick ice, their eyes calmly gazing from behind a screen of distorted bubbles and cracks. The combination of stillness, distortion, light refracted through the ice and the familiarity of the mannequin’s head – a human face we recognize at once but know is not one of us – invites the viewer in, intrigues, captivates and unsettles. Howard inspires his viewers to think, to interpret on a metaphorical level, to stop and contemplate and investigate the images more deeply, searching for meaning.
Michael Howard grew up in the San Francisco bay area in California. Deeply influenced by his early exposure to museums and galleries, he has developed into an artist of prodigious talent.
My creative sensibility is strongly motivated by an appreciation for the abstract. As such, I think viewers of my work are then freer to formulate their own personal impressions and thoughts about my images. I work in a traditional photographic medium with the aim of creating compelling gelatin silver print images. I hope that my creations are worthy of people's consideration, that they will devote some time to them. In that exercise, I hope too that viewers are inspired to think. Because that is a paramount goal of mine: to make people think.
