D E L M A S H O W E
Guys and Canyons
Guys and Canyons
OCT 9 – NOV 28
Waldrum Room
Waldrum Room
The showing of selected works from “Guys and Canyons” is a rare opportunity to see one of Delmas Howe’s most important series in his distinguished career. The series explores the concept of the human form as mirrored in the forms of nature. The signature piece that defines the collection shows three intertwined male figures against the backdrop of a canyon wall of complex rock shapes. The color and form of the intertwined male figures mirror the stark, barren nature of the rock wall. The figures seem poised to merge into the face of the canyon wall. The signature piece sets a tone for works that give a contemplative look at our natural world.
C A N Y O N S
Delmas Howe, “Rock Show”
In these confusing times when nothing seems to work right from new technology to the government to the church to the left or to the right no system has the answers. All is in turmoil, just as it seems to have always been. He finds the rock formations offer the perfect source for metaphor. In the rock face you can see that there is no answer, that all is constantly changing, moving, turbulent, leading to some unpredictable continuing process. “We as a species are mere, probably temporary, parasites feeding off residue of the earth’s changing surface”. Yet as Delmas observes he also sees that this process as it leaves its visible history is incredibly beautiful. To stare at these rock formations is to see the movement and the forms that have made us what we are and the potential for what we may become.
"Guys and Canyons"
October 12, 2013 - December 29, 2013
October 12, 2013 - December 29, 2013
"My last series of paintings was of rock canyons near where I live. Viewers who visited the exhibit said they saw flesh-like shapes in the rocks. This observation inspired me to do a series of paintings where the flesh might suggest rocks. At about the same time, I met a group of men in Albuquerque who were very beefy and were eager to pose for me, thus was born my next group of paintings which I affectionately call my “beefy guy” paintings. The last almost three years have been devoted the guy paintings and a few additional rock cliffs. The exhibit in October will be titled “Guys and Canyons”. I will be celebrating my 78th birthday and I sincerely believe this is my best work, in an artistic sense, of my long and celebrated career. Two of my iconic works can currently be seen in the Albuquerque Museum of Art, one in the permanent collection and one in the new “landscape installation." -Delmas Howe, June 2013
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