This is Video of the Week from Wales Arts Review. We’ll be showcasing some of the best art in Wales with a new video shared every week. From music to drama and everything in between, videos will not be limited by medium. Today we’re featuring ‘Bring the Story Inside’, a Culture Colony video which explores the new exhibition by Neath-based artist Neale Howells.
The origins of the works in the exhibition come from Neale himself, forming from accidental marks and his 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.”
