Spill, a solo show for Houston-based artist Joseph Havel, mounts on January 16 at Talley Dunn Gallery. This is the third in a series of three shows that feature Havel?s drawings and bronze sculptures in response to Dean Young?s poem ?How to Draw a Circle.? During an awards presentation, a chance meeting with Young developed into a friendship later resulting in a unique collaboration.?After receiving the Texas State Laureate?s poem, Havel began his first set of mixed-media drawings by mapping how circular forms take shape. How to Draw a Circle 4, is the third series to be featured at the gallery. Comprised of nine pieces, the works demonstrate how circular forms have begun to break down and fall apart into loose, expressive, dark forms.
In addition to Spill, a second group of drawings entitled Thistle, and many of the bronze sculptures present Havel?s interest in the theory of entropy. This theory states that all matter changes from a state of order into a condition of disorder. Yet, instead of ending or becoming lost, the disorder allows for an endless number of new combinations and a cycle of regeneration. The recipient of the 2013 Texas Visual Artist 2013, The Texas Commission for the Arts and Texas State Legislature, these drawings depict Havel?s recognized collar forms as they play out different abstract configurations and then split apart to create new patterns.
In An Art-Minded Circumstance, Steve Carter?s article for the December/January issue of Patron Magazine, Havel discusses his role as the Director of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and its Core Residency Program. Havel says of the alums of The Core Program, ?From our point of view, there are different ways to define success. Many of our alumni are quite remarkable artists who don?t have all the accolades that the art world has showered on some of the others?they?re more reclusive or quieter about their practice, but they really make remarkable art. And we?re as concerned about that as we are the other ones.?
Havel?s sculptures and drawings are included in the permanent collections of the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis; The Menil Collection, Houston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Contemporary Arts Museum, Honolulu; the Dallas Museum of Art; the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Mus?e Arte, Roubaix, France; S.M.A.K. Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent; and the Whitney Museum of American Art among others.
Talley Dunn Gallery will host an opening reception for the artist on Saturday, January 16 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., and Havel will give an artist talk at 6:00 p.m.?The exhibit is on view through Saturday, February 20. Talley Dunn Gallery is located at 5020 Tracy Street, Dallas, Texas, 75205, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Image: Joseph Havel,?How to Draw a Circle 4?(detail), 2015, from a series of twelve works on paper with graphite, oil paint, and oil stick on paper,?each measures 30 x 22?in.