Tom Howse: Anatidaen Pond Ontology
Tom Howse (b. 1988, London) returns to Korea for his second solo exhibition at Duarte Sequeira Seoul, following his first solo show in Asia in 2022- an exhibition that also marked the inauguration of Duarte Sequeira Seoul space.
Known for his distinctive blend of playfulness and philosophical reflection, Howse continues his exploration of personal mythology, human connection, and the uncanny beauty of existence. This latest body of work brings together a constellation of smaller-scale paintings which, when viewed collectively, unfold into a rich and layered narrative- one that reflects the artist's evolving practice and deeper inquiry into the nature of being.
"My work", Howse writes, "focuses on exploring a personal mythology of who we are and the inexplicable circumstance of existence." It is this balance-between joy and uncertainty-that underpins the emotional architecture of his practice. Drawing inspiration from everyday objects, people, and encounters, he infuses his paintings with both silliness and sincerity, crafting compositions that feel emotionally resonant and quietly profound. His figures, though not explicitly autobiographical, are what he calls "universal beings"-symbols of shared emotional and existential states.
For this exhibition, Howse continues a working method first developed for a series of small-format paintings presented at Duarte Sequeira London in 2024. Each painting begins as a proportionally scaled drawing-meticulously sized in relation to the final canvas-allowing him to preserve the composition's integrity while inviting formal constraints to shape content. "A small painting," he notes, "may only have room for a head, or a shoe, or a trumpet." These previously overlooked subjects-modest,
even mundane-are granted new importance and presence.
This approach fosters an abundance of imagery, generated through a fluid and rapid drawing process. The resulting body of work resists traditional hierarchies of meaning. "In the past, I would've felt that a pear or a frog wasn't important enough," Howse reflects. "But now, these images are crucial in this mosaic formation." When hung together, the individual paintings begin to "work in unison," forming new associations and meanings, and generating a collective narrative that transcends the sum of its parts.
At its core, Howse's work engages deeply with the human condition-our evolutionary origins, the constructed environments we inhabit, and our increasingly hybridized, post-human futures. He envisions a world where we are "machine learning organisms, cyborgs," navigating a digitized reality filled with both awe and alienation. Yet, rather than retreating into abstraction, he seeks out gestures of tenderness-a "finger touching something, or a moment of connection." His paintings function as quiet, humane interventions in a world that often feels disembodied and cold.
What makes Howse's vision so compelling is his embrace of uncertainty. "The most exciting state for me is that of unknowing," he writes. "Every time a new breakthrough is revealed, it's not the breakthrough that excites me, but the questions that come next." His work inhabits this fragile space between knowing and not knowing- a space animated by empathy, wonder, and the search for meaning in a perpetually shifting world.
This exhibition offers not only a window into Howse's richly imagined universe but also an invitation to reflect on our own. Through a visual language that is whimsical, precise, and emotionally expansive, Tom Howse constructs a poetic mythology of what it means to live, question, and connect.
