In his practice Howard seeks to explore what it is that gives a place its unique quality. What is it that creates the feel of a place both in terms of our emotional reaction and the physical elements that exist within it, and how do these depend upon each other? How does a place differ from a location in space?
He has been using an ontological approach to his work to investigate the physical elements that go to make up the fabric of a place, exploring the found landscapes that contain us or may be contained by us in the palm of a hand. Walking the landscape, allowing images and patterns to make themselves known has become a central part of his practice. There is a point of intersection between the geological timescale of the landscape and the brief moment of his being at the same point, and in this instant a work of art may be conceived. The creation of one object from another through the interpretation of marks using the medium of paint is the process by which part of the artist becomes combined with part of the Place.
