Bio

Tom Howes currently lives and works in Kalamazoo, MI. He received his BFA from Western Michigan University’s Frostic School of Art. Tom is also member of Exquisite Corpse, a Kalamazoo Artist Collective and Gallery.

Statement

Last year I watched a man playing basketball by himself in his driveway. He paused to vomit in the yard and then continue to play as if he had only stopped to tie his shoe. Just a few weeks ago I witnessed a squirrel fall off my roof. For almost an hour it laid stunned in the grass before climbing a tree and jumping back on the roof. I have an old painted portrait of a woman that I purchased at a local antique shop. There is a black striped “V” pattern on her blouse that extends up to her shoulders like spider legs. There are certain things that I am witness to or familiar with that resonate in my mind and in my work. They are disgusting, tragic, beautiful, and unexpected. I address moments like these in a common place - on paper. The unrelated fragments that inspire my work find themselves forced together or apart, communicating in equally unexpected ways.