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PRESS RELEASE
Joseph Havel
Without Stars
November 17 - December 16, 2006
Opening Reception For The Artist, Friday, November 17, 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Dunn and Brown Contemporary is proud to announce an exhibition by internationally renowned artist Joseph Havel. Without Stars includes recent drawings and sculpture by Havel and is open from November 17 until on December 16. The artist will be present at the opening on Friday, November 17 from 6:00 until 8:00 PM.
As a sculptor, Havel's interest in fabric began nearly fifteen years ago, and in recent years he has turned his attention to the use of large pieces of fabric including curtains, drapes, tablecloths, sheets, and most recently, flags. Influenced by the use of drapery throughout the history of art, especially in Renaissance and Baroque art, and also by the modern day associations of the material, Havel is drawn to not only the inherent formal issues of these recycled pieces of fabric but also the direct, straightforward nature of the subject matter.
For this exhibition and installation, Havel has created three freestanding monumental works in bronze which command the exhibition space, and each sculpture extends over ten feet in height. Beginning as enormous pieces of fabric in the artist's studio, these sheets and flags were transformed from ethereal, weightless objects into unique bronze sculptures. Havel explains, "The exhibition is about the fluid transitional space between what appears to be opposing fixed states or ideas . . . I am referring to emotional, psychological, or situational spaces as much as physical space."
Havel's exchange between abstract ideas and physical realities is most evident in the sculpture Wash, a delicately cast king-size bed sheet. This towering work evokes various states of consciousness between sleep and wakefulness. As with most of Havel's sculpture, these works have a figurative presence. This quality is most evident in the largest two flag sculptures in the exhibition, which are the same scale as the flags used to drape soldiers' caskets. As these works stand ten feet tall, their relationship to the figure both direct and indirect is undeniable. This same interest in perception and states of being is further addressed in the other sculptures and works on paper in the exhibition.
Joseph Havel's recent solo exhibitions have included a ten-year retrospective earlier this year at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Joseph Havel: A Decade of Sculpture, as well as a solo exhibition at the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri. In the spring of 2007, he will exhibit at the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, England. Havel's work was included in the 2000 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Havel's sculptures and drawings can be found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Honolulu; Dallas Museum of Art; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Musee Arte, Roubaix, France; and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Havel lives and works in Houston, Texas and currently serves as the Director of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.