How to Disappear Completely

British artist Rachel Howard's first exhibition with Haunch of Venison (11 January - 23 February 2008) explores the notion of a beauty that is born out of everyday tragedy. In a series of figurative and abstract paintings, and accompanying ink-on-paper studies, Howard conducts an ongoing investigation into the meaning of death, as experienced both through personal experience and through mediated representation. The departure point for these works is the disturbing images of suicide that Howard finds by trawling newspapers and the internet, a process she calls 'prodding the inevitable'. In the resulting paintings, the artist depicts a naked human form in a variety of different postures; in many cases the figures are suspended as though pulled by the same gravitational force that has determined the overall appearance of the painting.