ARTISTS
Rachel Howard & Sue Hubbard: Over the Rainbow
Rachel Howard鈥檚 鈥樷�橲uicide Paintings鈥欌�� were first shown at the Bohen Foundation in New York, in 2007, and exhibited at Haunch of Venison, London in 2008. The series evolved after an acquaintance of Howard鈥檚 committed suicide. He was discovered, not in the imagined drama, 鈥榮winging from the rafters鈥�, but kneeling in a pose almost of prayer. It was this particular detail that Howard found most disturbing, and which led her to create the series, coupled with the fact that for her, suicide is one of the last taboos. The source material came from trawling through forensic magazines and internet sites. These images were then abstracted from their contexts within Howard鈥檚 rapidly executed line drawings.
In response to these the award-winning poet, novelist and art critic, Sue Hubbard, who has written about Howard鈥檚 art work, has created a series of poems that sit alongside the images in an emotional and visual dialogue, and illuminate the deaths of women as various as Diane Arbus, Judy Garland, Dora Carrington and a female suicide bomber. Taken from her newly published third collection, The Forgetting and Remembering of Air, these disarmingly, direct and evocative poems explore in a language that is muscular and lyrical, painterly yet spare, the psychology of these very different women in extremis.
This brave, bold, collaboration between two women artists, each highly regarded in her own field, demonstrates that there is still something important to say about the poignancy and tragedy of the human condition.
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Rachel Howard鈥檚 鈥樷�橲uicide Paintings鈥欌�� were first shown at the Bohen Foundation in New York, in 2007, and exhibited at Haunch of Venison, London in 2008. The series evolved after an acquaintance of Howard鈥檚 committed suicide. He was discovered, not in the imagined drama, 鈥榮winging from the rafters鈥�, but kneeling in a pose almost of prayer. It was this particular detail that Howard found most disturbing, and which led her to create the series, coupled with the fact that for her, suicide is one of the last taboos. The source material came from trawling through forensic magazines and internet sites. These images were then abstracted from their contexts within Howard鈥檚 rapidly executed line drawings.
In response to these the award-winning poet, novelist and art critic, Sue Hubbard, who has written about Howard鈥檚 art work, has created a series of poems that sit alongside the images in an emotional and visual dialogue, and illuminate the deaths of women as various as Diane Arbus, Judy Garland, Dora Carrington and a female suicide bomber. Taken from her newly published third collection, The Forgetting and Remembering of Air, these disarmingly, direct and evocative poems explore in a language that is muscular and lyrical, painterly yet spare, the psychology of these very different women in extremis.
This brave, bold, collaboration between two women artists, each highly regarded in her own field, demonstrates that there is still something important to say about the poignancy and tragedy of the human condition.
Artists on show
