Seth Howe's "Architecture of Awareness" Opens at Tyte Gallery
Sculptures designed as "instruments for seeing" bring architecture, phenomenology, and geometric abstraction into direct conversation.
August 8–September 27 | Millbrook, NY | Opening reception Saturday, August 8, 5–7pm; artist and curator conversation Saturday, August 22, 2pm.
Tyte Gallery opens "Architecture of Awareness," a solo exhibition by New York-based artist and architect Seth Howe, on August 8. Curated by Sharon Bates, the show brings together sculpture, works on paper, and video built around what Howe calls instruments for seeing—objects expressly designed to make viewers more aware of the act of perception itself.
Howe's approach draws on architecture, phenomenology, and metaphysical inquiry, treating seeing as an active process that constructs meaning rather than passively recording it. The geometric constructions in his "Stack Series" function as seeing devices in a literal sense: through carefully calibrated relationships of form, color, scale, and space, they push viewers to notice how vision itself structures experience. What separates this from other contemporary geometric abstraction, per the gallery's framing, is that the geometry is never an end in itself—it works entirely in service of perception.
The works on paper extend the same conceptual concerns into two dimensions, translating the physical language of the sculptures onto flat surfaces. A recent video work, "Hexagon Origins," animates the negative spaces the sculptures generate—digitally activating the voids within the physical forms to reveal dimensions that remain otherwise unseen.
Curator Sharon Bates is a visual artist and independent curator who founded the Albany International Airport Art & Culture Program, now regarded as a national model for public art integration. In 2025 she established the Millbrook Arts Project, a collaboration between Millbrook Arts Group and Millbrook Library that provides exhibition opportunities for contemporary artists.
A conversation with Howe and Bates follows on August 22 at 2pm, digging into the ideas behind the work.
Tyte Gallery, 3280 Franklin Ave. (2nd floor), Millbrook, NY. More at tytegallery.com.
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After a decade of writing for RI (along with many other publications and organizations) Jamie took over as editor in 2025. He has a masters in journalism from NYU, a wonderful wife, two kids and a Carolina dog named Zelda.
