The lights go down and the film comes on. Those first five minutes is how a film captures your attention and brings you in. This is how NEALE HOWELLS has always thought about his large works of art, he wants them to make an instant impact.

“You make large works in the studio hoping that they can get seen. With this exhibition I am fortunate to be given the opportunity to exhibit some of those works.”

This is the first stand alone exhibition of work by Neale Howells in his native Wales for quite some time, although last year he contributed to a group show on the subject of the Wales Coastal Path.

BRING THE STORY INSIDE is neither brand new or retrospective, but finds the Neath painter tearing up some of his older pieces and assimilating them into newer ones. This makes perfect sense in respect of his brash, large-scale pop/abstract/collage style, which anyone who had their finger on the pulse of the 90s/00s Welsh art scene will recognise.

Neale Howells – Bring The Story Inside

Neale was born in Neath and works in his studio in Port Talbot, he is known for his artwork used by the Manic Street Preachers’ album in 2001, ‘Know Your Enemy’, which is now being re-released.

The origins of all these works come from Neale, accidental marks and the imagination. A lot of the works were reconstructed under lockdown, combining older works to establish new ones. The shape can be as important as the colour used, an important component to how the work develops and how everything relates. Sometimes Neale contradicts himself……

“There were rules you learned but you rip them up, you spin the work around and mix up the way you look at it. I feel that way of working is important for an artist. Artists should not be controlled by the work but rather they should be in control.

Some works are meant to be, with some you are in a gladiatorial fight to the finish. Of course, it must be the artist, but it can come down to the wire.”

Neale Howells

Neale Howells: Bring the Story Inside is at The Owen Gallery and The Bridge in Machynlleth from this Saturday 22nd April through to Saturday 10th June – admission is FREE. For more details just go HERE.