Howard Tangye

23 JANUARY- 3 MARCH, 2017

Amar Gallery is proud to announce its inaugural solo exhibition – Howard Tangye: Links, featuring a new series of paintings.

The twenty-four works on show consist of oil on canvas and oil, pastel and graphite drawings on paper created over the last two years. Howard Tangye: Links will be on view from 23rd January to 3rd March 2017 at 48 Penton Street, London.

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In the exhibition, the Australian-born artist presents a departure from his earlier works. Moving on from the recognisable characteristics of his practice, the new body of work pursues a more expressive receptivity rooted in the artist’s association with childhood.

Tangye seeks to paint individuals that share a connection with him. Influenced by his mentor, Elizabeth Suter (1926 – 2012), Tangye and his fellow students were encouraged to “look for the bones” before dressing the body, first in flesh and then in clothes. Evocative of Egon Schiele, both artists use distinctive, twisted line in portraiture. Tangye captures the essence of his subjects with aqueous blue, crimson, and purple hues that coalesce into animated figures defined by soft, gestural brushwork. Engaging compositions reveal new aspects of the artist as both a figurative and abstract painter with the use of multiple layers to depict his subjects. A technique historically referred to as pentimenti – Italian for repentance – the works evidence traces of changing configurations during the artistic process.

The artist is admired by curators such as Abraham Thomas from the Victoria and Albert Museum, who describe Tangye’s work as demonstrating “the profound capacity of drawing to bring form and definition to those thoughts, gestures and moments that occupy the spaces left uncharted by the gaze of the camera lens.” Tangye’s greatest artistic inspiration are the abstract masters, Agnes Martin and Bridget Riley, both for their paintings and for their thoughts surrounding art. These resonate with Tangye and give him the confidence to continue his practice both as a figurative and abstract painter.