Controlled Violence (now wash your hands), 2018
Oil and acrylic on canvas
Painting: 43 x 43 inches
Box: 32 x 14 x 13.5 inches
Towels: 13 x 13 x 8 inches
Courtesy of the artist
Value: $50,000

In Paintings of Violence (Why I am not a mere Christian), on view through early 2019, Rachel Howard examines religion, morality, and violence.  Her work Controlled Violence  pointedly explores the more subtle kinds of “controlled violence” that are meticulously planned and calmly executed, referencing acts of brutality planned on an overwhelming scale; she describes these threats to the stability of everyday life as “…not about a bacchanalian violence, but rather the acts of a steady calm hand on a greater scale: maximum damage, planned and calmly carried out; hence the slow slice through the alizarin crimson oil paint, exposing the fluorescent beneath, the repetition of the act of painting mimics the repetition of violence.”

About the Artist
Rachel Howard graduated from Goldsmiths College, London University: BA Joint Hons Art & Art History 1991. Recent solo exhibitions at public institutions include: Paintings of Violence (Why I am Not a mere Christian), MASS MoCA, Massachusetts, US (2018-2019); Repetition is Truth – via dolorosa, Newport Street Gallery, London, UK (2018); Rachel Howard, MACRO Testaccio, Rome, IT (2016); At Sea, Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, UK (2015); Repetition is Truth, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donna Regina, Naples, IT (2011). Recent group exhibitions in public institutions include: Age of Terror, Imperial War Museum, London, UK (2017); Drawing Biennial, The Drawing Room, London (2017) Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick, Somerset House, London, UK (2016); Summer Exhibition 2016, Royal Academy of Arts, London,
UK (2016); Settle Opere per la Misericordia, 4th edition, curated by Mario Codognato, Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples, IT (2016); Sleepless, Beds in History and Contemporary Art, 21er Haus, Vienna, AT (2015).

Howard’s work can be found in a variety of public and private collections: Arts Council Collection, UK, Ackland Art Museum, North Carolina; Museum van Loon, Amsterdam; Tate Archive, London; David Roberts Foundation, London; Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas; Olbricht Collection, Berlin; Pallant House, Chichester; Pio Monte Della Misericordia, Naples; The wareHouse, Wieland Collection, Atlanta and the Murderme and Hiscox collections, London amongst others. She lives and works in UK.