Wolf Howard (born 7 April 1968)Evans, p.36. is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

artist, poet and filmmaker living in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

and was a founder member of the Stuckists art group.Milner, p.80. He is also a drummer who has played in garage and punk bands, currently as a member of The Musicians of the British Empire (MBE's) with

Billy Childish Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

Life

Simon 'Wolf' Howard was born in Strood, Kent and attended Mid-Kent College for O-levels, where he "doesn't think he got any but always tells people he got two". In 1986 he began drumming, having taught himself, and has continued to do so ever since. From 1987 for 15 years he was on the dole, except for a total of two periods of two months, one day and half-an-hour, when he was respectively sweeping an ironmonger's warehouse floor, sweeping a neon light warehouse floor, picking apples and working in a frozen shepherds-pie factory. He decided against going to art college on the basis that it would "worsen himself". He lives in Chatham, where he works as a volunteer in an Oxfam shop.

Music

Wolf Howard has played drums in many bands. The most important are (in chronological order) The Daggermen, The

James Taylor Quartet The James Taylor Quartet (or JTQ) are a British four-piece jazz funk band formed in 1985 by Hammond organ player James Taylor following the break-up of his former band The Prisoners (band), The Prisoners, and in the wake of Stiff Records' ba ...

, The Prime Movers, The Solarflares, Dodsons Dogs and

The Buff Medways Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper, 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has le ...

. His drumming is "louder than a self-propelled Howitzer."

Art

Howard was one of the 13 original founder members of the Stuckists, a pro-figurative painting, anti-conceptual art group, co-founded by Childish and

Charles Thomson Charles Thomson (November 29, 1729 – August 16, 1824) was an Irish-born Patriot leader in Philadelphia during the American Revolution and the secretary of the Continental Congress (1774–1789) throughout its existence. As secretary, Thomson ...

in 1999. Howard exhibited in group shows, including ''

The Stuckists Punk Victorian ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'' was the first national gallery exhibition of Stuckist art.Moss, Richard"Stuckist's Punk Victorian gatecrashes Walker's Biennial Culture24, 17 September 2004. Retrieved 3 December 2009. It was held at the Walker A ...

'' (2004) at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

for the

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

and '' Go West'' at

Spectrum London Spectrum London was a London art gallery which showed contemporary figurative painting, photography and sculpture. It staged '' Go West'', the first commercial West End show of the Stuckists, and a retrospective by Sebastian Horsley. It closed ...

(2006).Go West, ''The Daily Telegraph''. He left the group in 2006 to pursue a solo career. He paints bold figurative images in a simple, vigorous,

impasto ''Impasto'' is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provide ...

style. This has incurred criticism for its apparent

naivety Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may b ...

. Howard has stated that his finished result only comes about after hard work, which can involve scraping the paint back to the canvas up to ten times. He has explained a particular painting, ''Mrs Chippy'': In ''

Aesthetica ''Aesthetica Magazine'' is an international art and culture magazine, founded in 2002. Published bi-monthly, it covers contemporary art from around the world, across visual arts, photography, architecture, fashion, and design. It has a reader ...

'' magazine,

Abby Jackson Abby Jackson (born 1982) is a British artist, Stuckist painter, writer and art activist. Life and work Abby Jackson was born in North Devon and lives and works in London. She attended Somerset College of Art and studied advertising. In 2002, ...

contrasted the different responses of Howard and

Luc Tuymans Luc Tuymans (born 14 June 1958) is a Belgian visual artist best known for his paintings which explore people's relationship with history and confront their ability to ignore it. World War II is a recurring theme in his work. He is a key figure ...

to the subject of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

: "Tuymans chooses to avoid his subject matter, whereas Howard, as a Stuckist, approaches his subject head on."

Pinhole photography

Wolf Howard is a member of the Stuckism Photography group and takes pinhole photographs.Milner, p.140. He uses a light-proof wooden box 4" square with a fixed-size pinhole in the front. Photographic paper is placed at the back of the box. There is no lens and no viewfinder, so he estimates the aim of the camera. A wooden slider allows light into the box for an exposure which is between 40 seconds and 5 minutes. The camera is placed inside a light-proof bag to replace the photographic paper. He develops a negative print (in his bathroom) and makes the final positive print by placing another sheet of photographic paper under the negative with a 5-second exposure under a light bulb. The whole process requires estimation throughout and he "faces many disappointments in his darkroom. The hard work will eventually pay off." He describes his motivation: :There is something special about a pinhole camera. There is a beauty in its simplicity and rawness that technology has not been able to better. There is a timeless quality that can make the most uncomplicated subject seem full of poetry. :In each pinhole picture I take I hope to capture the joy and excitement that the early pioneering photographers (Fox Talbot and friends) must have felt when they took and developed photographs for the very first time.Wolf Howard: Pinhole photographs, stuckism.com An exhibition of his work, ''The Pinhole Photographs of a Gifted Gentleman Amateur'', was held at the Stuckism International Gallery in 2003 as part of Alternative Arts Photomonth. He was one of the four Stuckist Photographers showing work at the

Lady Lever Art Gallery The Lady Lever Art Gallery is a museum founded and built by the industrialist and philanthropist William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme and opened in 1922. The Lady Lever Art Gallery is set in the garden village of Port Sunlight, on the Wirral ...

during the 2004

Jesse Richards Jesse Richards (born July 17, 1975) is a painter, filmmaker and photographer from New Haven, Connecticut and was affiliated with the international movement Stuckism. He has been described as "one of the most provocative names in American underg ...

wrote in a review of the show, "Wolf Howard's pinhole photographs of a pocket watch, a trench cap, and his friend Billy Childish are beautiful haunting images that seem to be from a world long gone by. I've really never seen anything like it." Richards, Jesse
"Liverpool Biennial: Stuck in Liverpool"
''NYArts''. Retrieved 23 July 2008.

Gallery

Image:Wolf Howard. Wolf in Tunisia.jpg, ''Wolf in Tunisia'' Image:Wolf Howard. Venice Mask.jpg, ''Venice Mask'' Image:Wolf Howard. Russian Girl.jpg, ''Russian Girl'' Image:Wolf Howard. Hunger.jpg, ''Hunger'' Image:Wolf Howard. Dog and Cat Underwater.jpg, ''Dog and Cat Underwater'' Image:Wolf Howard. Firing Squad.jpg, ''Firing Squad'' Image:Wolf Howard. Two Dogs Fighting.jpg, ''Two Dogs Fighting'' Image:Wolf Howard. Swan and Fox.jpg, ''Swan and Fox'' Image:Wolf Howard. El Toro.jpg, ''El Toro'' Image:Wolf Howard. Being on the Dole.jpg, ''Being on the Dole is like Playing Chess with Hitler'' Image:Wolf Howard. Superpowerless.jpg, ''Superpowerless'' Image:Wolf Howard. Tree in Snow.jpg, ''Tree in Snow'' (pinhole photograph)

Footnotes

References

*Evans, Katherine, ed. (2000), ''The Stuckists'', Victoria Press,
"Go West"
''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

''. Retrieved 27 August 2007. *Lees, Alasdair (2005)
"The Buff Medways, Pleasure Unit, London"
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', 5 January 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2007. *Milner, Frank, ed. (2004), ''The Stuckists Punk Victorian'', National Museums Liverpool, . Abbreviated information on Howard from the book is on the

web site fo
painting
an
photography
Retrieved 27 August 2007.

stuckism.com. Retrieved 21 April 2006

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Wolf Living people 1968 births 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters Photographers from Kent Stuckism People from Strood English contemporary artists James Taylor Quartet members 20th-century English male artists 21st-century English male artists