Double Entendre

Somewhere in the midst of becoming a painter, Mark Penner Howell discovered the human figure. And if there’s anything especially new and interesting about the works going on display tonight for his solo show Double Rainbow Plans: Paintings by Mark Penner Howell at Walker Fine Art, that shift in focus — and his own compelling affinity for rendering the figure — is the foremost thing.

Not that his previous paintings — pop-culture pastiches overlaid with social commentary — didn’t include figures. But now, he says, his figures have become characters that are “less iconic or types, and more of a step closer to being real people.” And mixed up in that act of visual storytelling, there’s an aspect of duality and self-examination, too. “What is an integrated self, when we can all be multitudes of people continuously making infinite choices that become who we are?” Howell asks. “As I decide what to paint, I’m thinking about those kinds of things — splitting a person up into multiple selves that are all interacting with each other. I’ve been reading a lot about the science of how personality is constructed, and it changes constantly. I like that.” In these paintings, he explores his own metamorphosing personality as refracted through the eyes of his characters.

Double Rainbow Plans opens with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. at Walker Fine Art, 300 West 11th Avenue, and runs through May 31; works by Bryan Leister, Heather Patterson and Danny Williams will be on display in the back gallery. Visit walkerfineart.com for details.

Fri., April 25, 6-9 p.m.; Tuesdays-Saturdays; Fri., May 2, 6-8 p.m. Starts: April 25. Continues through May 31, 2014