James Havard

Untitled

James Havard

1937 Born in Galveston, TX
1959 Sam Houston State College, Huntsville, TX
1965 Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA

Currently resides in Santa Fe, NM

Selected Public Collections

The Albuquerque Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, NM
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
The National Collection of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Museum of Modern Art, Stockholm, Sweden
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Witte Memorial Museum, San Antonio, TX
Byer Museum of the Arts, Evanston, IL
Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ
Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, CA

Selected Recent Exhibitions

2012 Staying Ahead of the Beast, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2010 Birthday Exhibitions, Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM

2008 Gallery Group 2008, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY
Drink the Juice of the Stone, Linda Durham Gallery, Santa Fe, NM (solo)

2006 Recent Paintings, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

2004 Sight Unseen 3, James Kelly Contemporary Art Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2003 Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ
Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ (solo)

2002 R.B. Raven Gallery, Taos, NM (solo)
Group Show, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY

2001 The Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2001 Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

2000 Paintings, Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (solo)
Works on Paper, Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (solo)
Fortieth Anniversary, Allan Stone Gallery, New York, NY

“James Havard’s highly individual work draws inspiration from American Indian and African tribal cultures, as well as cave paintings and children’s drawings- and is often full of inner demons and dark, multicultural symbols. Yet they are also affectingly humorous, endowed with qualities that we recognize immediately as inherent to the human condition.
During his early career, Havard was known as one of the leading practitioners of “Abstract Illusionism.” In the late 1980’s he made a dramatic shift to a unique brand of figuration that recalls art brut in its intentional naïveté of line and rigorous and textual manipulation of paints. As art critic Tony Cavanaugh has written, “Havard figures are raw and elemental. In their utter nakedness of guile and anatomical economy they resemble the works of very young children, albeit with an in innate sophistication that can only belong to a mature artist in complete control of his powers.”
“James Havard”, 2006 Editor, Laura Addison

“From the quasi-Pop work to his invention of Abstract Illusionism to his now profound exploration in to the existential portrayal of the soul of his ancestors and their world, his art is beautiful and true. The truth comes from his uncanny ability to observe both the known and the unknowable and bring them forth visually through his personal filter. His technical virtuosity is awesome, and in his hands paint brings life to the spirits of the ancients he feels so close to in New Mexico, the ones he portrays with such mystery and passion”.
“James Havard”, 2006, Dianne Vanderlip, Polly and Mark Addison Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Denver Art Museum