Urinal Screenprints by Tom Howe
|You’re looking at EXACTLY what you think you’re looking at. Everybody gets all excited about Tokyo’s techno-urinals, but what about these American-made ordinary, everyday objects? Michigan-based artist, Tom Howe, thought the humble urinal screen deserved a place in the gallery (outside of the bathroom), and so he screen-printed them. There’s a total of seven delightful colors and styles, each in an edition of three prints.
Here’s Howe on why:
There are certain things that I am witness to, or familiar with, that resonate in my mind and in my work such as memories, ideologies, observations, and the minutiae of everyday life. This work subverts both the seriousness and banality of these objects and subject matter. Whether it’s with minimal engagement or a more expressive approach, I attempt to level the playing field between expectation and reality by directing attention to the obvious. In doing so, we learn that the obvious often remains subjective.
I give Tom Howe’s Urinal Screenprints points for wordplay and humor. If you enjoy these, you might also like Hauke Scheer’s Urinal Robot Action Figures. Or try clicking the new “urinals” tag archive!