Interview
Lincoln Howard
Lincoln Howard was born in Vancouver Canada on February 23 1970. He grew up in a suburb just outside Vancouver. Lincoln now resides and paints in his home studio in Port Coquitlam BC. He started painting in 2018 at the age of 48 years old. He paints mainly with acrylic paint incorporating bright neon colours. His works are non representational and abstract usually incorporating a grid pattern into the paintings. The grid represents the matrix of our lives the millions of twists turns and decisions we make that shape our lives. He is influenced by the abstract expressionists especially Mark Rothko Clifford Still and Jackson Pollock. Lincolns art is described as multi layer abstraction because of the paste he uses to build up texture in his work. Lincoln is also fond of using mirrors found objects and glitter in his paintings. Lincoln is striving to push the boundaries of abstraction through the use of different techniques ,media and objects.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“My background wasn’t in art. I liked to draw as a child and enjoyed art in school ,but never pursued art after high school. I didn’t think art was something I could actually do as a profession I didn’t think I could be an artist. It was something other people did. I think that I always looked at the world like an artist. I think outside the box like artists do and question things .I like to look deeper at things get information from different sources not taking things at face value. I guess my background in art is life living and experiencing life. My experiences in life have shaped my style and the type of art I want to create. I started my art journey in 2018 at the age of 48 my wife and I took some acrylic painting classes. I started to create and haven't stopped yet.”
What inspires you?
“Sometimes, images inspire me; I’ll see something somewhere in the street or on Youtube. I’ll see something and I’ll say to myself I like that that looks cool. The shape or design of something will give me an idea for a composition for a painting. I look on Youtube a lot looking at artists paintings watching documentaries it is food for my artistic practice. I’m especially drawn to the abstract expressionists I think I borrow from a few of those painters. I also draw from Gerhard Richter particularly his squeegee paintings. I don’t use a squeegee I use a large trowel but the way I blended and scrape the paint has a similar look to his work. Music also inspires me when I get into a creative mode I like to play moody music it brings me into a deeper darker space I get more feeling to create from that space. I get inspirations for paintings and images from that moody space. I’ve been getting inspired from bands like The War On Drugs, Depeche mode and Still Corners. There is certain songs from these bands that get me into my art mood space and help me to create and imagine different ideas and paintings. The place I think I go to is one foot in depression and despair and one foot in joy and optimism. I’m pulling from the depressive space and reaching towards the optimism. Pulling back and forth between the two.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“My work up ‘till now is mainly non representational ,so the themes aren’t particularly overt. I think self reflection is one theme. I like to use mirrors in my work. I would say the mirrors are like looking inward into one self looking deeper into your words your actions and your soul. Looking deeper into how these actions effects our lives and the peoples lives around us. I don’t know exactly why I started with the mirrors it just sort of started. My daughter had a disco ball and it was damaged she was going to throw it out I took it and started placing some of the small rectangular mirrors into my paintings and I liked the look and reflective quality it gave to the surface. I’ve been using mirrors ever since. The other reoccurring theme in my paintings is a grid. The base layer of most of my paintings incorporates a grid pattern, again I don’t know why I started doing this it just sort of happened. But I have come to realise the grid represents the matrix of our lives. The grid represents the millions of twists turns and decisions we make during our lives. The people we meet the places we go the things we do and experience, that is the matrix.”
“I see my paintings becoming more sculptural and interactive as I move foreword with my art practice.”
How would you describe your work?
“My work is different. I have a unique aesthetic. Starting with the grid base layer placed down usually with very wild paint colours usually incorporating lots of neon acrylic paint. Then, building outward with limestone paste then splashing more paint and glitter and sometimes mirrors and other objects. My work is definitely different. The paste I build the paintings up with gives the work a textural sculptural quality I like the way it gives the work depth and texture I think it makes it more interesting to look at. I would also hope the work gives of some sense of mood or feeling to the viewer. My work could also be described as geometric abstraction, sculptural painting, abstract expressionistic.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I’m influenced by the abstract expressionists. They seem to be the artists that I’ve most been drawn to. I steal a little bit from these artists. Clifford Still. I love the mood and drama he gets from his sparse jagged forms with minimal usage of colours in his paintings. The power and mood he gets from being so restrained with his colour is impressive to me. Mark Rothko again with the mood and feeling you get from his work. The paint colours again being sparse in usage but the depth from the many many layers is so rich and beautiful. Franz Kline. I like colour but I also love black. His use of line and form and the images he made were so perfect but unperfect at the same time jagged and rough in black and also in his signature dark blue. I love it. Jackson Pollock. The drip paintings of course, I love the way he flung and spread paint in what seemed like a random way, but you don’t end up with monumental paintings like his randomly. The way he dripped and poured the paint and came up with those abstract paintings is astonishing to me. I’m also influence by Gerhard Richter, Jean Michelle Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Richter for his blended paint and vibrant squeegee paintings. Basquiat for his wild imagination and imagery. Warhol for his out of the box thinking and silk screened images.”
What is your creative process like?
“Like I mentioned earlier, I like to use music to get into my creative process. I work usually on a table my canvases are flat on the floor or table. I already have an image in my mind I want to create. I have the design or composition already planned out in my mind and most of the colour scheme. The painting has already been planned in my mind like a blue print I change it around adding and subtracting changing the composition till it looks right to me. Then, I apply the base layer this is where i improvise usually laying down the colours intuitively depending how I feel .I use a large putty knife I drag it across the surface blending the paint lightly together. Once I’m happy with the colors, I drag my homemade tool across the painting to form the grid. I start in the top left corner and drag downward working my way across the painting then I start at the top left again and drag the tool across the width of the painting working downward. This makes the grid design or matrix. Then, I will make a geometric design with painters tape and mask it off. Once the tape is placed and I’m happy with the design, I will then place the limestone paste down over the tape. I will then drip more paint over the paste adding glitter at this time. Then, I will carefully remove the tape exposing the base layer of paint. I call them multi layer abstractions.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“The artist’s role is that of observer and commentator. Artist can shine a light on topics and politics through their art. Artists can bring about change. The best and most successful artists can help shape society. Andy Warhol being an example of that. The pop art movement and his art bled into the mainstream and into many different facets of life. Artists can shine a light on things in a way that the mainstream media cant. Artists can be unconventional and freer in their expression of topics. There are no rules in art and the best artist break the rules all the time.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“I recently had a show at the Bentall Gallery in Vancouver, September 2023. I also recently won 2023 The Harmony For Humanity Global Consciousness Art Prize. I was awarded by Contemporary Art Collectors. I was also awarded Collectors Art Prize this year.”
Instagram: @lincolnhowardart
