Inversion (artwork)

Last updated

Inversion
Artist
  • Dan Havel
  • Dean Ruck
Year2005 (2005)
Location Houston, Texas, U.S.

Inversion was a 2005 artwork by sculptors Dan Havel and Dean Ruck of Houston Alternative Art.

Contents

Havel and Ruck altered two buildings owned by the Art League of Houston on the corner of Montrose Boulevard and Willard Street. The exterior skins of the houses were peeled off and used to create a large vortex that funneled into the small central hallway connecting the two buildings and eventually exited through a small hole into an adjacent courtyard. [1] Inversion has become one of Houston's most well-known, albeit vanished, sculptures. The structure was later demolished to make way for a new Art League building. [2] [3] [4]

Art League Houston owned the two houses and had used them for art classes and exhibitions for over 30 years. The organisation commissioned Havel and Ruck to transform them into an artwork in demolition. The sculpture was opened on May 21, 2005, and was visible from Montrose Boulevard until its demolition the next month. [1]

Years later, the artwork continues to be cited on design blogs. [2]

Sequels

In 2009, the sculptors cut an egg-shaped piece from another house in a work called Give and Take. [2]

In 2011, Havel and Ruck created a work called Fifth Ward Jam, taking planks from the interior of other dilapidated houses in Houston and fixing them to the outside in shapes like an explosion. This was compared to the earlier work Inversion.[ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houston Museum District</span> Area centred on museums in Houston, Texas

The Houston Museum District is an association of 19 museums, galleries, cultural centers and community organizations located in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting art, science, history and culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neartown Houston</span>

Montrose is an area located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States and is one of the city's major cultural areas. Montrose is a 7.5 square miles (19 km2) area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. Montrose neighborhoods include Cherryhurst, Courtlandt Place, Hyde Park, Montrose, Vermont Commons, North and East Montrose, Mandell Place and Winlow Place. Montrose is also less well known by the moniker Neartown, encompassing Superneighborhood #24.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Watts Towers</span> Historic folk art site in Los Angeles, California

The Watts Towers, Towers of Simon Rodia, or Nuestro Pueblo are a collection of 17 interconnected sculptural towers, architectural structures, and individual sculptural features and mosaics within the site of the artist's original residential property in Watts, Los Angeles. The entire site of towers, structures, sculptures, pavement and walls were designed and built solely by Sabato Rodia, an Italian immigrant construction worker and tile mason, over a period of 33 years from 1921 to 1954. The tallest of the towers is 99.5 feet (30.3 m). The work is an example of outsider art and Italian-American naïve art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Paul Jennewein</span> American sculptor

Carl Paul Jennewein was a German-born American sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasher Sculpture Center</span> Museum in Dallas, USA

Opened in 2003, the Nasher Sculpture Center is a museum in Dallas, Texas, that houses the Patsy and Raymond Nasher collection of modern and contemporary sculpture. It is located on a 2.4-acre (9,700 m2) site adjacent to the Dallas Museum of Art in the Dallas Arts District.

Events from the year 1993 in art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moscow Museum of Modern Art</span> Museum in Moscow

The Moscow Museum of Modern Art is a museum of modern and contemporary art located in Moscow, Russia. It was opened to public in December 1999. The project of the Museum was initiated and executed by Zurab Tsereteli, president of the Russian Academy of Arts. In 2018, The Vadim Sidur Museum and Museum-Studio of Dmitry Nalbandyan merged into the Moscow Museum of Modern Arts.

Eastwood is a historic neighborhood in the East End area of Houston, Texas, United States. Eastwood maintains Houston’s largest intact collection of Craftsman, Arts & Crafts, Foursquare and Mission style architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory-Lincoln Education Center</span> K-8 school in the United States

Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. Originally built in 1966 as Lincoln Junior and Senior High School, it later operated as Lincoln Junior High School until Gregory Elementary School merged into it in 1980, forming Gregory-Lincoln. The school moved into its current building in 2008; the rebuilding was delayed due to concerns that U.S. Civil War-era graveyards would be disturbed by the rebuilding process.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montrose, Houston</span> Neighborhood of Houston in Harris, Texas, United States

Montrose is a neighborhood located in west-central Houston, Texas, United States. Montrose is a 7.5-square-mile (19 km2) area roughly bounded by Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59 to the south, Allen Parkway to the north, South Shepherd Drive to the west, and Taft to Fairview to Bagby to Highway 59 to Main to the east. The area is also referred to as Neartown or Neartown / Montrose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Link–Lee House</span> Historic house in Texas, United States

The Link–Lee House is a large historic home located in Montrose in central Houston, Harris County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is currently serving as the executive office of the University of St. Thomas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Harris County, Texas in 2000, and became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2001.

<i>Fountain of the Great Lakes</i> Bronze sculpture by Lorado Taft

Fountain of the Great Lakes, or Spirit of the Great Lakes Fountain, is an allegorical sculpture and fountain by Lorado Taft. The bronze artwork, created between 1907 and 1913, depicts five women arranged so that the fountains waterfall recalls the waterflow through the five Great Lakes of North America. In the Great Lakes, the waterflow begins in Lake Superior at 600 feet (180 m) above sea level and continues eastward through each lake until it reaches Lake Ontario. The Fountain is one of Taft's best known works. It is located in the public South McCormick Memorial Court of the Art Institute of Chicago, in the Chicago Loop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred C. Finn</span> American architect

Alfred Charles Finn was an American architect. He started in the profession with no formal training in 1904 as an apprentice for Sanguinet & Staats. He worked in their offices in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston. His credits during his tenure residential structures, but firm was a leader in steel-frame construction of skyscrapers.

The Houston Alternative Art chronology was originally compiled by Caroline Huber and The Art Guys for the exhibition catalogue No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston, which was published by the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston (CAMH) to accompany the group show of the same name. The exhibition was on view at CAMH from May 9-October 4, 2009. No Zoning: Artists Engage Houston was co-curated by Toby Kamps and Meredith Goldsmith and featured projects by twenty-one Houston artists using the city as inspiration, material, and site. This chronology documents Houston's alternative art scene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montrose District, Houston</span>

The Montrose District was a management district located in Houston, Texas, United States. The land was governed by the Montrose Management District.

<i>Inversion: Plus Minus</i> Pair of sculptures in Portland, Oregon

Inversion: Plus Minus is a pair of outdoor sculptures designed by artists and architects Annie Han and Daniel Mihalyo, located in southeast Portland, Oregon. The sculptures, constructed from weathered steel angle iron, are sited near the Morrison Bridge and Hawthorne Bridge along Southeast Grand Avenue and represent "ghosts" of former buildings. The installation on Belmont Street emphasizes "negative space" while the sculpture on Hawthorne Street appears as a more solid matrix of metal. According to the artists, the works are reminiscent of industrial buildings that existed on the project sites historically. Inversion was funded by the two percent for art ordinance as part of the expansion of the Eastside Portland Streetcar line and is managed by the Regional Arts & Culture Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyde Park, Montrose, Houston</span> Neighborhood in Houston, Texas, United States

Hyde Park is a historic community located in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Its southeast boundary is the intersection Montrose Boulevard and Westheimer. The neighborhood was established in the late 1800s on the summer farm of the second President of the Republic of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar. In the 1970s, Hyde Park became a central part of the Gay Rights Movement in Houston. Like much of Montrose, the neighborhood is now experiencing significant gentrification, and is home to an abundance of restaurants, including Mexican, Italian, Greek, American, Lebanese, coffee houses, and numerous bars.

<i>Exhaling Pearls</i> Sculpture in Houston, Texas, U.S.

Exhaling Pearls is an outdoor 1993 bronze sculpture by postmodernist American artist Joseph Havel, installed at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Lillie and Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, in the U.S. state of Texas.

Virtuoso is a 36-foot-tall, 21-ton outdoor concrete sculptural group by David Adickes. It was installed in 1983 on the outskirts of the Theater District in downtown Houston next to the Lyric Centre building. It was commissioned as a work that "paid homage to music, dance and performing arts".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inversion Coffee House</span> Defunct coffeehouse in Houston, Texas, U.S.

Inversion Coffee House was a coffeehouse in Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas.

References

  1. 1 2 "Houston houses move into new realm and become works of art". Houston Business Journal. May 8, 2005. Retrieved October 23, 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 Gray, Lisa (February 8, 2009). "Inversion creators are back for more". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  3. "From Street Art: The Inversion House". Juxtapoz magazine. Archived from the original on September 3, 2011. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  4. "About Inversion". Inversion Coffee House. Archived from the original on January 17, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2011.