Brian Howell burnt forest
cover image: [detail] Burn (#5) 2015. Archival inkjet print, 39 x 49� Artwork images courtesy of Winsor Gallery and Brian Howell
brian howell Burnt Forest
Published in conjunction with the exhibtion Brian Howell Burnt Forest Winsor Gallery August, 6th – September 5th, 2015
winsor gallery 258 East 1st Avenue Vancouver, BC V5T 1A6 – info@winsorgallery.com winsorgallery.com
Winsor Gallery is pleased to announce the significant and impacting forest fire Series from Vancouver photographer, Brian Howell. These photographs were made in the winter of 20142015 from Howell’s travels in Thompson region, British Columbia. This charred forest was destroyed in a fire in 2003. Howell shows the trees as an isolated community; bent, broken and devastated by the ravages of nature’s thinning process. In each landscape one is drawn to the individuality of each tree and broken limb anchored by the antithesis of the burn—the snow. The snow blankets, surrounds and provides a dramatic but calming contrast to the stark patterns of blackened trees emerging from the covered mountainside.
Burn (#17), 2015 Ed. 1/10 Archival inkjet print
Burn (#44), 2015 Ed. 1/10 Archival inkjet print 25 x 30�
“Shot mostly from high, distant, horizon-excluding vantage points, the wintry mountain landscapes resemble austere abstractions: the upwardly tapering vertical “strokes” created by the burned tree trunks are countered by the horizontal and diagonal lines of their fallen brethren. Burned and broken stumps appear as shorter jots and flecks of black, and occasional rocky outcroppings, as seen in Burn (#23), may create a scalloped black line across the composition. From a distance, these pictures of the charred remains of a forest seen against the blanketing white of fresh snow could have been rendered in India ink on a blank piece of Arches paper. Dead branches take the form of spidery webs of pale grey and low bushes of new growth are articulated in raw sienna or burnt (yes, burnt) umber. In Burn (#17), a group of deer, miniaturized by their distance from the camera, establish a barely discernible presence at the lower left of the picture. They are a tiny, poignant reminder of the creatures that make their home in what was previously a life-giving forest. They also cue us to the metaphoric heart behind Howell’s formal and documentary impulses.” __ Robin Laurence click here to read the entire article from the Georigia Straight.
DETAIL: Burn (#17), 2015 Ed. 1/10 Archival inkjet print
TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: Burn (#19), 2015, 25 x 30”, archival inkjet print, edition 1 of 10 Burn (#34), 2015, 25 x 30”, archival inkjet print, edition 1 of 10 BOTTOM LEFT TO RGIHT: Burn (#44), 2015, 25 x 30”, archival inkjet print, edition 1 of 10 Burn (#23), 2015, 25 x 30”, archival inkjet print, edition 1 of 10
Burn (#18), 2015, Ed. of 8, 34 x 30�, Archival inkjet print.
Installation View of Burnt Forest Exibition
Slash Pile, Tumbler Ridge B.C., 2015 Ed. 1 of 8 Archival inkjet print, 45 x 57.25�
Burn (#5), 2015 Ed. 1 of 8 Archival inkjet print, 39 x 49�(framed),
In the aftermath of devastation, beauty is abounding. “As a hot and dry summer has wildfires raging across the province, Vancouver’s Winsor Gallery will be showcasing the devastation left behind in a new photography exhibition called Burnt Forests. Howell hopes his photography will be looked at as a sort of meditation on the issues surrounding climate change, and the challenges faced by communities in rural B.C. that are affected by wildfires.” __Patrick Colvin click here to read The Vancouver 24 Hrs article
“When people see them they think they’re abstract ink drawings or something, then they get close and realize it’s a burnt forest, they become these incredible landscapes.” __ Brian Howell
Burn (#19), 2015 Ed. 1 of 8 Archival inkjet print 45.5 x 57.75�
Burn (#23), 2015 Ed. 1/10 Archival inkjet print 25 x 30�
About Brian Howell Brian Howell graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical University in Toronto in 1994 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film and Photography. His contemporary photographic work examines vernacular expressions of shifting societal and personal values. Howell’s subjects are drawn from fringe, or marginalized communities; people and places resonant with allegorical meanings for an age that seems to Howell both broken and blinded. Howell’s photographic series build on the truth-telling mantra of an earlier era of documentary photojournalists though are given structure and further meaning by a more rigorous contemporary conceptual framework.