PROLOGUE | PERSONAL
Howard, where do we talk together, where do we meet you? I have a live/work studio space so you’d meet me in my studio. Quite frankly, most of the time the studio is a mess. I’d do my best to clear it out a bit and present some work as a starting point for our discussion. It’s a relatively well-lit space and you’ll definitely feel like you’re in a studio and not some comfortable residential home. Maybe we are sitting at your favorite place? Quite possibly. I guess I’m most comfortable in my studio. Where do you come from, where were you born when? I was born and raised in Houston, Texas. Where do you currently live and work? Houston, Texas. Which stations and people have shaped you? I don’t know what you mean by “Stations?” I feel as though I’ve been shaped by many different people over the course of my life. Within my art practice, many of my graduate school professors had a big effect on me that I still feel to this day. Established Texas-based artists like Vernon Fisher, Vincent Falsetta and Ed Blackburn. There’s also a long list of artists I’ve never met but whose work I’ve admired that have also shaped me.
Image above: Howard Sherman, Portrait
Which writers do you currently find exciting and which books are on your bookshelf? Great question. I’m currently working on “Swann’s Way” by Proust but I have a ton of art books on my shelf mixed in with various other stuff. It’s a bit all over the place. I read a lot of art criticism, maybe because I feel like the quality and amount of it are in severe decline and which heightens it’s importance. Exciting writers? The first two I think of are Cormac McCarthy and Dave Hickey. Which books have influenced or shaped you? “How To See” by David Salle is really helpful. Another one that’s important to me is “Hot, Cold, Heavy, Light” by Peter Schjeldahl. Both of these are collections of essays. Art criticism at it’s best. What are you currently reading and where do you keep the book? See above. Books are everywhere around me. What music do you listen to and when? I listen to music in the studio and while I’m driving. Mostly rock and jazz. Some singer/songwriter Americana, too. I’ll sprinkle in a little tiny bit of classical or hip-hop occasionally but not often. If you would cook something for us, what would it be? I don’t really cook. We’d eat out at some amazing place because that’s how I roll. What do you like to eat most? Knowledge. What do you think about breakfast? As they say – it’s the most important meal of the day. What kind of sport or counterbalance to your work do you practice? I work a lot and the idea of “counterbalance” is a bit of a myth for most people who are trying to achieve greatness. Having said that, I hangout a lot with friends, mostly other artists. I do a lot of high intensity interval training and I run. What personality trait defines you? A sense of humor. Do you have a concern that you would like to share with us or a certain question, that we did not ask, which you would like to give an answer to? Everyone please watch this last season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Game changer for sure. (Anm. d. Red.: Deutscher Titel der Serie Curb Your Enthusiasm: “Lass es, Larry!”)
INTERVIEW | ARTIST + POSITION
To begin, please tell us about your artistic vita in a few sentences.
My work’s typically human-scale canvases carry traces of my background in cartooning, offsetting the loud, raw power of my aggressive paint strokes with a playful sense of humor. My smaller works on paper show an intuitive use of material in a distilled yet assertive manner.
Briefly explain your current project or the upcoming exhibition.
Regarding the Berlin exhibition, it’s a combination of large paintings and drawings. The drawings are of various sizes.
What are you currently most concerned about; what is on your mind?
How to continue to evolve.
How did you come to art? Why art?
I’ve made art my entire life. Intuitively, it makes sense as the best form of communication.
What makes you happy at the moment?
How much time do you have?
What is currently scaring you?
How much time do you have?
Do you believe that art has a social responsibility? And what do you think it can do?
I don’t consciously push this in my work but others find it imperative.
What makes your art special? What is it about – what are the central themes of your work?
THE DEED | DAS WERK: Howard Sherman
The American painter Howard Sherman, who grew up in Houston, Texas, and currently lives there, talks about the central message of his artistic work in his Interview.
Please describe the core theme and the central message of your work. Introduce us to the work that, in your view, exemplifies or best embodies the message of your work.
What is the aim of your art, your work, what is it supposed to achieve in the viewer?
Being shown on how to feel and see differently is a powerful thing. That’s what art does. The interpretation of art is different for everyone. Themes? I’ll let you decide.
THE DEED | THE WORK is a complementary and separately presented part of THE INTERVIEW IN|DEEDS with Howard Sherman.
How do you protect yourself from too much inspiration these days?
As Chuck Close said (paraphrasing) “Inspiration is for amateurs. I’ve got work to do.”
How much in your works is planned beforehand – how much is created intuitively?
As intuitive as I try to ne, there’s always a little something planned, even subconsciously.
What are your (next) goals?
To keep pushing myself.
What is your opinion about faith? Do you have principles of faith or is there a motto?
No comment.
Which project would you still like to realize, if lack of time, courage or financial resources would not play a role?
A dream project? I need to think about that a bit more.
What do you consider to be attributes of good art?
Honesty.
Is one born as an artist? Or is studying art compulsory in your view?
Every artist is taught or self taught in one way or another. The drive to be an artist will dictate whether or not you become one. It starts and ends with the work you produce.
To whom do you show a new work first?
Other artist friends.
What does the first hour of your day look like?
Coffee. Coffee. Then more coffee.
EPILOGUE | CURRENT
The exhibition Self-portrait as Kong with paintings and works on paper by Howard Sherman is on view at Galerie Kremers, Schmiedehof 17, 10965 Berlin-Kreuzberg from 28. April to 11. June 2022.
www.howardsherman.com
www.instagram.com/howard_sherman
The written interview is an important medium to introduce artists, to spread their messages and to get in touch with art lovers. The interviews are not edited or shortened by our editors and are always reproduced in original sound. Therefore, we do not translate the interview into English or German unless the interviewee submits a translation.
