Biography
Since receiving his Masters of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from the University of North
Texas in 2006, Howard Sherman has been leading a new generation of bombastic
contemporary painters in the Texas art world and beyond. Sherman’s large-scale canvases
carry traces of his background in cartooning, offsetting the loud, raw power of his aggressive
paint strokes with a playful sense of humor. His smaller works on paper show an intuitive use
of material in a distilled yet assertive manner.
The large paintings facilitate the immense physicality within Sherman’s work, while leaving
space for his keen sense of formal resolution. The frenetic and muscular heft of the work is
balanced with a measured precision and a thoughtful integration of several art historical styles.
Sherman’s cartoonish figuration complements his bold use of abstract mark making,
embedding into the canvases what could be read as portraits, punch lines or poems.
Only two years after completing his M.F.A., Sherman was featured in a solo traveling
exhibition originating at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas. His work is in several museum
collections including the Art Museum of Southeast Texas and the Art Museum of Soth Texas
and a work on permanent display at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.
Sherman’s painting was chosen for the cover of the art history book Texas Abstract:
Modern/Contemporary by Michael Paglia and Jim Edwards. The artist has been profiled several
times in New American Paintings and his work appears in the book Texas Artists Today. Rice
University collects his personal artifacts for their research center. He has been awarded
numerous residencies around the United States and included in many exhibitions regionally,
nationally, and globally. Recently, Sherman’s work has been frequently exhibited in Berlin,
Germany, and Marfa, Texas.
Concurrently with the Howard Sherman exhibition, on July 21, 2023, Smart New Art
Publications (SNAP Editions, New York) will release a lavishly illustrated monograph covering
Sherman’s career, featuring over one hundred color images and essays by Modern Art Museum
of Fort Worth’s Chief Curator, Andrea Karnes; artcritical’s Publisher and Editor, David Cohen;
and art historian Alex Bacon. The book will be available for purchase both at the gallery and at
the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth bookstore as well as through SNAP Editions at
www.snapeditions.com.
The artist lives and works in Houston, Texas.
CV
EXHIBITIONS
2022
Self-Portrait as Kong, Galerie Kremers, Berlin, Germany
Scents that Leave the Nostrils Dreaming, Roasters Gallery, Marfa, TX
2020
Foltz Fine Art, “Exploited Nudes Meant For Commodification”; Houston, TX
2018
Whirling in its Own Feedback Loop, Roasters Gallery, Marfa, TX
“Comfort Level”; Field Projects Gallery; curated by Alissa Polan; New York, NY
Union Gallery; “Collect It For The Culture”; curated by Robert Leroy Hodge; Houston, TX
Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts; “44 Artists From Texas”; curated by Linda
Cullum; Lubbock, TX
2017
“Ludwig Schwarz/Howard Sherman” Rudolph Blume/Artscan Gallery; Houston, Texas
MECA Art Fair; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Alaina Simone Projects
“Lucky Strike” Mill Contemporary; Santa Fe, NM
“Instigators” solo exhibition; Cultural Center Rocky Neck Art Colony, Gloucester, MA
2016
“Dialogue”: Rudolph Blume/Artscan Gallery. curated and catalog essay by Howard Sherman;
Houston, TX Art Busan; Busan, South Korea with Blue Orange Contemporary
“Self-portrait as Kong” Galerie Kremers, Berlin, Germany
Roasters Gallery; “Scents that Leave the Nostrils Dreaming”; Marfa, TX
Roaster’s Gallery, “Whirling in it’s own Feedback Loop” Chinati open house weekend; Marfa,
TX PRVT VW Gallery; “Knee Deep”; New York, NY Flight Gallery, “Referendum” curated by
Tommy Gregory; San Antonio, TX
Circuit12 Contemporary; “Shifting Fancy Of The Crowd” solo exhibition; Dallas, TX
2015
“Texas abstract: Modern-Contemporary”: group exhibition; Rudolph Blume/Artscan Gallery;
Houston, Texas
Feeding off the Land Like and Animal, Roasters Gallery, Marfa, TX
Shambolic Powe, Angelo State University, San Angelo, TX
Lurching and Cursing in a Field of Tulips, Blue Orange Contemporary, Houston, TX
2014
Art Museum of South Texas,”40 for 40: Recent Gifts to the Permanent Collection”; Corpus
Christi, Texas University of North Texas Artspace Dallas; distinguished alumni exhibition;
Dallas, Texas
2013
Metaphysical Batman: solo exhibition; McMurtrey Gallery,”Houston, Texas
“Collage, More and Less: Redux”: Williams Tower Gallery; group exhibition; Houston, Texas
Houston Arts Alliance, Howard Sherman: Artist picks; exhibition curated by Howard Sherman;
group exhibition; Houston, Texas
“Self-replicating as Godzilla”: McMurtrey Gallery Microspace; solo exhibition; Houston, Texas
2012
“Layover: Houston Airport System Portable Artwork Collection Preview”: Houston Arts
Alliance; group exhibition; Houston, Texas
“Another impatient sucker”: Flanders Gallery, solo exhibition; Raleigh, North Carolina
List of Demands and “Studio Visit 1-1”: Cris Worley Fine Arts; group exhibition; Dallas, Texas
2011
Melodrama Over Craft, Craft Over Melodrama, Crius Worley Fine Arts and Fedri Fine Art
Advisory, Dallas, TX
Apocalyptic Wallpaper, McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, TX
2010
“Eating your friction”: Galveston Arts Center; solo museum exhibition traveling from Art
Museum of Southeast Texas Artspace;
“Bogus rating system” solo exhibition; Raleigh, North Carolina
“Abstractions”: Pan American Art Projects; group exhibition; Miami, Florida
G Gallery; “New American Paintings #90 winners”; group exhibition; Houston, Texas
2009
“When gorillas shoot pigs”: McMurtrey Gallery; solo exhibition; Houston, Texas
“Bloodthirsty animal on two legs”: Pan American Art Projects; solo exhibition; Dallas, Texas
2008
“Eating your friction”: Art Museum of Southeast Texas; solo exhibition; Beaumont, Texas
*included full color catalogue
“Group dialogue”: Gerald Peters Gallery; group exhibition; Santa Fe, New Mexico
“In my mind, you’re inflatable”: McMurtrey Gallery; solo exhibition; Houston, Texas
Artist-in-residence group exhibition; McColl Center for Visual Art; Charlotte, North Carolina
American University; “Multiplicitocracy” group exhibition; Washington, D.C.
2007
Camp Marfa; Marfa, Texas
“Commodification of dissent”: Gerald Peters Gallery; solo exhibition; Dallas, Texas
2006
“Venti Americano”: McMurtrey Gallery; solo exhibition; Houston, Texas
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Art Museum of Southeast Texas
Art Museum of South Texas
Bank of Montreal
Bush Intercontinental Airport; Houston
Texas Lonestar College – North Harris
Dow Golub Remels & Beverly, LLP
EDUCATION
2006 the University of North Texas-M.F.A.-Painting and Drawing 1993 University of Texas at
Austin-B.A.-Studio Art
AWARDS & HONORS
2016 Visiting artist – Hunter College; Nari Ward’s graduate drawing seminar; New York City,
NY
2015 Henry Edwards Distinguished Lectureship in Art; Angelo State University; San Angelo,
TX
2014 “Texas Abstract: Modern & Contemporary” by Michael Paglia and Jim Edwards published
by Fresco Books; * “Sportsmanship is for suckers” painting was chosen for art history book
cover along with a five-page profile
2014 Artist of the Year Award at The Decorative Center Houston
2013 New American Paintings Volume 108; Western Edition; Juror: Veronica Roberts, Curator
of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum; Austin, Texas
2012 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; artist-in-residence; Amherst, Virginia
2012 Wurlitzer Foundation artist-in-residence; Taos, New Mexico
2011 Menil Collection; “Artist’s Eye” lecture series – Howard Sherman discusses the work of
John Chamberlain 2011 Visiting artist-Thomas Lawrence lecture series; Buckinghamshire New
University; London, England
2022 Howard Sherman monograph published by Snap Editions with essays by David Cohen
(Artcritical Editor and Publisher), Alex Bacon (art critic and Princeton Museum assistant
curator) and Andrea Karnes (head curator Museum of Modern Art Fort Worth)