IN ISSUE: LITERAL 6

A Decade of Sculpture

Joseph Havel

Joseph Havel sees art in everyday items that most of us rarely give a second thought. In his hands, shirts, bed sheets, and drapes mutate from the ordinary into something otherworldly. The museum is pleased to present this survey of Havel’s work at this juncture in his critically acclaimed career.

Havel uses common materials in his art—white dress shirts, curtains, tablecloths—to reach out to a broader audience. He deftly addresses the technical and artistic challenge of translating limp fabric into flamboyant bronze sculptures and delicate constructions that quietly suggest movement. In a process that the artist has described as uncovering “the activity of still objects,” the meaning associated with the items is both amplified and changed, a psychological shift that challenges viewers to reassess what they know and what they feel.

– Peter C. Marzio

Moon, 1998. Fabric shirt collars and monofilament. (Collection of Suzanne M. Manns)