Art of Howie Katz
Portfolio
Installation and Large Sculpture
deadbeats
Cancer Floor
Conversation Piece
Mirror Image
Altar Ego
Altar Ego was on display at the annual Day of the Dead show in San Francisco. The installation is an interactive computer-driven altar in which the viewer himself becomes the person being memorialized. The theme of the show “Calling on the spirits to face the future” points to the past as well as the future, and it inspired me to make something that is both traditional and high-tech which draws from the past and shows the future. To this end, my installation is a hybrid of a traditional altar (multiple levels with an arch on top, skeletons, salt, tissue paper, candles, flowers, etc.), and projected images and text gleaned from the internet. The images and text are projected on the walls and on white objects placed throughout the altar — primarily in empty picture frames, but also onto “blank” objects such as a white-painted books, CD, DVD, political button, newspaper, stone, etc. There is also a kiddie record player that plays the song that was #1 on your birthday, complete with a spinning label (title/artist) at 45 r.p.m. I also have a crystal ball that shows a heavily distorted image of you when you get closed to it. For this, there…
The Judgement – Installation
“The Judgement” is an installation of 46 uniquely distorted plaster heads, roughly human sized. Each one represents someone who was on death row in the United States, but subsequently found not guilty. There is one head for each case since 2001. The text “blindfolds” on the faces come from The Death Penalty Information Center and The Innocence Project. They contain a brief description of each person’s case and ordeal. The text on the heads is a deep red, except for one which is a dark gray; he was killed. To read the text is not easy. It requires the viewer to pace back and forth, as a prisoner would, to read the story. The exercise becomes tedious, and the two difficult minutes spent trying to read about a prisoner serve only to emphasize the horror of what you read – that prisoners spend years sometimes over a decade, on death row. The heads were all cast from the same latex mold of a styrofoam mannequin head which was distorted each time before plaster was poured. The result is that some look masculine, some feminine, some black, white, Asian… They also all bear the same scar – a defect in the…
Cerberus 2011
Cerberus 2011 is a sculpture (4ft x 3ft x 4ft) made from copper pipe, metal, etched lenses, gas masks, and copper leaf. The eyes in each mask are etched with the symbols for radiation, poison, and biohazard. There is also the B.P. logo etched into one of the arms as a tattoo, and the tail has a multi-colored patina. The piece is a modern take on Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards Hades. In this case, the creature is chimera of human, dog, elephant, and scorpion. My intention is that viewers find it both scary, yet vulnerable – a harbinger of the hell we are creating on earth. [gallery link=u0022fileu0022 columns=u00222u0022]
Deck the Halls
“Deck the Halls” is a collaboration between Michael Dorman, a 13 year-old skater, and myself . The project was as part of the SPARK afterschool apprenticeship program. The piece is made from 30 broken skateboard decks and PVC pipe. The star on top is formed from two trucks and wheels, other ornaments were made from bolts and bushings, and 60 round, fish-eye photographs of Michael at the skate park hang from the branches. When we first met, I asked Michael what he wanted to make. He suggested maybe something about the safety aspects of skating. I set him straight on that – art is about passion, not taking it safe. Skating makes him happy, like Christmas morning. One thing led to another, and we designed the tree. Michael knew where we could get some free broken decks. Thanks to DLX and Mission Skateboards! Also thanks to Building Resources for the pipe.[gallery link=u0022fileu0022 order=u0022DESCu0022 columns=u00222u0022]
Political Reality
Here are some other images: [caption id=u0022attachment_732u0022 align=u0022alignleftu0022 width=u0022640u0022 caption=u0022Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck Teabagsu0022][/caption]
Gas Masks
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Focus- Magnifying Glasses
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Objects with Lenses
This series makes you focus on a revealed idea rather than literally focusing on the object itself. To accomplish this, I use artifacts which themselves were once meant for viewing things: a telescope, a microscope, a WW2-era bombsight, and optics from an old tank periscope. Each is positioned to focus on a short phrase. By looking inside, you become the user of the object and thus part of the piece. The message you see forces you to reflect on the true purpose of the objects, and not just how they look. Insteadof “things happened”, I want you to realize that somebody caused them to happen. The pieces are: A binocular microscope head- When you look into it, you see the message “This is how they’ll find out that you’re dying”. A WW2-era bombsight- When you look down through it you see the message “This is how your grandparents’ house was last seen”. Optics from a tank periscope. When you look up through it, you see the message “This was someone’s view of Tiananmen Square”. This references the famous “Tank Man” incident of 1989. A telescope – When you look through it, you see it is focusing on a distant sign which says “Somewhere a telescope is aimed at earth”…
Street Art
I made this piece for the annual Thanksgiving sunrise commemoration the Native American occupation of Alcatraz
Older Work
Sculptures
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Eye Spy (Magnifying Glasses v1.0)
“Eye Spy” is an installation of 30 framed pieces, most of which have a magnifying glass in front of them (there is also a telescope and microscope). The “images” are primarily text in a very small font, though a few have pictures or pictures and text. They require magnification to be seen. The subjects are primarily playful and self-referential (a recurring theme in my art). For example: “Does the voice in your head sound like this?”, and another instructs the user to stand behind a line which is taped on the ground below. Standing behind this line makes the text impossible to read. Many of them were created to complement the art or the artist whose studio they are next to. Some are location-specific; for example, in a narrow passageway, there is one saying “You are in the way”, and another is hung in such a way requiring the viewer to crane his neck; it says “Is your neck stiff?” The goal of this installation was to force people to slow down. There is a curious effect that at art exhibits, people will often gloss by large pieces yet approach and spend time with small ones. I’ve taken the idea…
Framed Heads
Below are some examples of the Framed Mesh Heads. They range in size from 8?x10? to 11?x14?, including frames. Currently about half are unsold. [gallery columns=u00222u0022]
Canvas on Canvas
This is a conceptual series where the medium itself becomes the image. [gallery]
Ouija
These are Ouija Boards etched into acrylic. The supporting brackets are shaped like the “palette” that you push around on the board. [gallery link=u0022fileu0022 columns=u00222u0022]
Etchings and Engravings
Ironic Wood
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Lives in a Tree
Images of Trees or things that live in/on them [gallery]
Other Engravings
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Here are some other images:
Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck Teabags
©2025 Howard Katz
