PETER HOWSON, O.B.E. | CERBERUS

Flowers East, London

Glasgow, McLellan Galleries, Peter Howson: A Retrospective, 1993, no.557

R. Heller, Peter Howson, London, 2003, illustrated p.76

Sprawling, aggressive, erotic – Howson’s paintings offer an unflinching window onto the raw excesses of humanity. Recalling other infernal works such as Harrowing of Hell or Landlord's Castle, Cerberus recasts the classical hound of Hades in a phrenetic tableau of tortured flesh. Fists fly, men yell, and the cross is trampled in an explosive, whirling tragi-comedy. Greens and reds bleed into one another in a freakish cocktail of colour as bodies tangle and twist. Whether the violence and ardour of these figures is seen as horrific or heroic, Howson challenges the viewer with a vision of brutal beauty.