Aquarelle et gouache sur sérigraphie sur coton khadi, 2023
Fruit Tree is a collaborative work by Surabhi Ghosh and Patrick Howlett. The initial screenprint was created by Ghosh, during a technical demonstration for her students, with water-based textile ink on cotton khadi. After discovering that she shared her enthusiasm for dot motifs with Howlett, she gave the fabric to him during a studio visit and invited him to add to it. He responded to the screenprint by painting colourful motifs with watercolour and gouache, using the original design as both template and screen for further imaginings.
Surabhi Ghosh is an artist and professor based in Montréal. She works with unruly textiles, repetitive processes, and site-responsive installations. Recent exhibitions have been at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and Patel Brown, which featured her work at Feria Material in Mexico City, NADA in Miami, Plural in Montréal, and Barely Fair in Chicago. Her work is held in the collections of Hydro-Québec, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Confederation Centre of the Arts, and others.
Patrick Howlett is a Montréal-based artist and educator. For his paintings’ distinctive surfaces he combines media such as watercolour, distemper, egg tempera, and oil paint, creating a surface matrix that both absorbs and exudes. He is a graduate of Concordia University (BFA) and the University of Victoria (MFA); his recent exhibitions include make room at Blouin Division (Montréal) and Animal Brains Animal Eyes at Susan Hobbs (Toronto). His work is held in the collection of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Majudia Collection, among others.