As an abstract artist my intention is to interpret what I see, whether in nature or man made, and cast away any visual or emotional boundaries and deal with what I feel are the basic elements of life as we live it. I am particularly interested in combining past, present and future because I believe in the fourth dimension of time and I endeavor to reflect that in my work. It goes beyond a continuum so it only exists for me in the present. My recent shows at several galleries in the Chelsea art district as well as in the New York’s Lower East Side gallery district included both black and white and full color paintings.
Currently the inspiration for me is multi layered color work some opaque and impasto some translucent, all with kinetic movement. -Howard Ziff
About Howard Ziff
Howard Ziff has spent a lifetime expressing his life’s experiences through his art, even given a hiatus that spanned several decades.
From the moment he scrawled on any flat surface he could find at a young age, making art became his passion even though he was unsure of where it might take him.
Along this experience Howard learned that his paternal grandfather was a classical artist whose work had been scattered among family members after his father came to America.
My father saw what was becoming my sole interest and enrolled me in the prestigious Art Students League of New York. I had the opportunity to see and study the work of the greats of the New York school of abstract expressionist painting. An amazing experience for a young artist.
However, life took a different turn when university, work, a business career and helping to take care of his family got in the way and Howard stopped making art for a half century. After many attempts to find himself, which he sometimes embraced and then abandoned, the need to make art became a way for him to express his life’s journey and he found himself back at the Art Students League for several years, studying with noted instructors before moving to his own studio in Manhattan, where he works now.
My art is informed by several generations of art from the simplicity and color of Matisse to Pollock’s one of a kind connectedness of line amidst what appears to be anything but connected.
My paintings explore space, time and experience with the past and future combining to bring us to the present. In my color work I endeavor to do this through saturated and multiple layers of paint, movement harnessing the whole. The black and white work again reflects my need to explore spatial and time wondering which came first, black, a color or white, the lack of color. I work with rollers, sponges and palette knives mostly on large canvas surfaces.
Howard’s work has been featured in group shows at the Lichtundfire Gallery on New York’s Lower East Side and the Pictor Gallery in the Chelsea art district. His paintings have been sold from his studio as well as through online sites including Saatchi Art, Artrepreneur and Art, Artists, Artwork.
You may also find Howard on Instagram.
For more information about Howard Ziff visit his website or contact him directly at [email protected]. Website: howardziffartist.com.
