Conduit Gallery is pleased to present Life-size, a new body of paintings by New York-based artist Catherine Howe.

Working in acrylic, iridescent mineral pigments, and metal leaf on canvas, Howe takes a personal language of botanical painting to the edges of pure abstraction, creating a lyrical world where minuscule flowers speak to universal notions. The paintings are flower portraits born of nature's capacity to reflect our human qualities, connecting to a long thread of animism. They exist as a bridge between the world within and the world without, animating earthly materials into being, an imprint of action and agency.

The flora have been uprooted and freed from their earthly constraints. Gravity itself has been left behind as they move toward a new incarnation or dimension. Winding stems tremble and blossoms wave and beckon. Plant forms are embodied in painted relief, rendered in iridescent mineral pigments and metal leaf that project the solid, objective world of nature into the ineffable, ethereal realm of the spirit, surfaces shifting in hue as the light changes and the viewer moves in relation to the painting. It is now a world where nothing is alive without peril. But it is still a paradise, where each day may see nature rising again to flourish. These blooms possess a self-confidence and spirit that transcends earthbound woes.