Neale howells biography

He’s the notorious Neath-based painter dubbed the ‘enfant terrible of the Welsh art scene’.

But here Neale Howells tells Nathan Bevan how he’s mellowed and why he liked anonymously mailing pieces of his work to complete strangers

THE first thing that surprises me when I ring Neale Howells is just how softly spoken he is – not how I expected the so-called enfant terrible of the Welsh art world to sound at all.

But it turns out the only reason he’s being quiet is because he’s in his local library in Neath to borrow some guide-books on Basel, the location of his current solo exhibition – his first in Switzerland.

Although the controversial artist – who was once banned from the National Eisteddfod after submitting a painting composed from his own bodily fluids – is keen to stress that he’s mellowed quite a bit of late.

“ I only behaved like that because I fe