Joseph Havel
Working with materials such as bronze, fabric, and polyurethane, Joseph Havel creates sculptures alluding to the mundane and the absurd. Often reinterpreting everyday objects, Havel's massive structures make use of negative space and a manipulation of media. Havel frequently employs components of ordinary garments, which bring forward ideas of modern middle-class working culture. Through the repetitive motif of the dress shirt, for example, Havel instills themes of tedium, repetition, dematerialization, and the impersonal nature of modernity. Recently, Havel has sought out new avenues of expression such as graphite and oil paint. His gestural drawings reflect the larger themes of his work.
Havel has held numerous solo exhibitions since 1984, at locations such as Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Dallas Contemporary, Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills, Missouri, and Bard College in New York. In addition, he has contributed to numerous group shows at the Summaria Lunn Gallery in London, the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and The Whitney Museum in the 2000 Biennial of American Art. Havel was awarded the Texas Visual Artist in 2013, Texas Artist of the Year in 2010, the Dallas Contemporary Legends Award, and the Artadia …
Working with materials such as bronze, fabric, and polyurethane, Joseph Havel creates sculptures alluding to the mundane and the absurd. Often reinterpreting everyday objects, Havel's massive structures make use of negative space and a manipulation of media. Havel frequently employs components of ordinary garments, which bring forward ideas of modern middle-class working culture. Through the repetitive motif of the dress shirt, for example, Havel instills themes of tedium, repetition, dematerialization, and the impersonal nature of modernity. Recently, Havel has sought out new avenues of expression such as graphite and oil paint. His gestural drawings reflect the larger themes of his work.
Havel has held numerous solo exhibitions since 1984, at locations such as Talley Dunn Gallery in Dallas, Contemporary Art Museum Houston, Dallas Contemporary, Laumeier Sculpture Park in Sunset Hills, Missouri, and Bard College in New York. In addition, he has contributed to numerous group shows at the Summaria Lunn Gallery in London, the Kansas City Jewish Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and The Whitney Museum in the 2000 Biennial of American Art. Havel was awarded the Texas Visual Artist in 2013, Texas Artist of the Year in 2010, the Dallas Contemporary Legends Award, and the Artadia Fellowship among others.
