Brad Howe

Art Brokerage: Brad Howe American Artist: b. 1959. Balancing playfulness, wit, strength, stillness, and motion, Brad Howe's sculptures are dynamic experiments in color and form. Having started his artistic career making mobiles reminiscent of Alexander Calder's pioneering midcentury kinetic art, he continues to infuse his work with a sense of lightness. Even in sculptures made of heavy steel, he creates elements that twist, rise, and perch. His quieter, stationary wall sculptures incorporate arching lines that recall elegant movements. In addition to Calder, his influences include Arp and Brancusi—artists who infused solid matter with a similar gravity-defying feel. The idea of social engagement and conversation is a constant theme in Howe's practice, evident in the way his light-hearted sculptures activate the viewer's space, as well as in his passion for creating public art and for working closely with collectors on commissioned projects. "My sculptures examine vitality and celebrate beauty," he has said. "Their aim is to capture the vigor of life and radiate with unabashed potentiality. These are the issues that stimulate me as a person and as an artist, and that are discussed over and over with those who sit with me at my fire and with those at whose fire I find myself sitting." Listings wanted.