Everything has parts and is a part of something larger.  Our lives are like this; so are our perceptions.  I think that’s why I use layers of paint in a way that reveals the history of my process.
My work, while remaining abstract, has begun to involve representational elements:  portraits, text and planet-like orbs.  These subjects are interesting to me because:  1) I want to be reintroduced to polarizing personalities, 2) I want to polarize words and thereby direct the emotional meaning of things that are implicitly neutral, 3) space imagery represents to me a gargantuan rationality, it represents a place that in our social discourse is relatively rarely politicized.  By abstracting them and their surroundings, I am investigating the potential these subjects have to assume unexpected meanings.

Layton Hower is a New York based artist who has exhibited throughout the Southwestern and Eastern United States. Hower grew up in Appalachian Virginia and studied art at the University of Colorado at Boulder and at Davidson College in North Carolina. Drawing inspiration from the interdependent nature of our world and the phenomenon of time, Hower builds intricately layered and highly chromatic abstract acrylic paintings.

Layton Hower has been called a “full-blown, head-gasket-shredding abstract expressionist” whose work is “knock-down, drag-out, heavy-duty, pedal-to-the-metal, . .” by critic Wesley Pulkka of the Albuquerque Journal.1



1 Pulkka, Wesley. The Albuquerque Journal. Feb. 6, 2005

Solo Exhibitions

Residue. Spread Gallery. Brooklyn, NY. December 12 - January 17, 2008+9

New York Public Library / Mulberry St. Branch. New York, NY. November 2 - January 2, 2008+9

Wyckoff Starr Cafe. Brooklyn, NY. November 3 - December 1, 2008

Incandescence. Artspace 116, Albuquerque NM. May 5 - June 16, 2006

Closed Circuit. Exhibit 208, Albuquerque NM. January 29 - Feburary 26, 2005

New Paintings. Senior Exhibition. Edward M. Smith Gallery, Davidson NC. May 1 - 7, 2003

Horizons. Alvarez Salon, Davidson NC. November 4 - December 1, 2002

Group Exhibitions, selected

Space is the Case.  Studio 225.  Brooklyn, NY.  November 6-8, 2009

SeenNotSeen: Metaphors of Beauty.  Santiago’s Art Factory, Albuquerque, NM.  March 20 - April 30, 2009

Beta Spaces / an Arts in Bushwick Event. Norte Maar Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. November 9 - 23, 2008

LaGrange National XXV Biennial. LaGrange Art Museum, LaGrange, GA. March 1 - April 24, 2008. Curator: Jeffrey Grove, High Museum, Atlanta GA

Organization of Independent Artists: Sixth Annual Juried Exhibition. New York Law School, New York, NY. March 10 - April 28, 2008

Bibliography

Pulkka, Wesley. “Hall Captures Music’s Energy”. The Albuquerque Journal. June 4, 2006

Stevens, Amanda. “Artist Draws on Life Experiences as Inspiration for His Acrylic Paintings”. The Albuquerque Journal. May 5, 2006

Pulkka, Wesley. “Abstract Expressionist Lets Humor, Pathos Walk Hand in Hand on Canvases”. The Albuquerque Journal. Feburary. 6, 2005

Grants

Douglas Houchens Studio Art Award. Davidson College, Davidson NC. 2002

Annual Art Department Travel Grant. Davidson College, Davidson NC. 2002

Education

Davidson College, Davidson NC, B. A. Studio Art. 2003