Hervé Lancelin gallery is hosting Luxembourg’s first exhibition by the American artist John Haverty, winner of the 2016 Luxembourg Art Prize. 

His works draw inspiration in various artists such as Dieric Bouts, Hieronymus Bosch and Salvador Dali. The artist is described as an example of the new generation of artists who refer to their own concerns about the human impact on nature. 

John Haverty balances a career as a crew chief for American Airlines. He spent that past few years traveling through the USA creating paintings in and out of airport break rooms and hotels. His work has so far mainly been exhibited in the USA.

Using paper as his favourite medium for his large-scale drawings, he prefers traditional tools such as ballpoint pens and watercolours to create within a more painterly presentation. His bright and colourful works are stylistically closely linked to illustration and sketch. The main subject of work remains the way human behaviour negatively affects our planet. The visual impact matters.

Haverty’s work refers to his own experience as a global citizen. As he explains, his “art, like the infection, presents an ambiguous visual feast that sheds light on problems vexing society such as unchecked population growth, over consumption, pollution and war that we have come to accept as the norm”. 

Haverty liberates the images from their initial context and rearrange them in a different way. Even if the global construction can be visually understood, each image is densely painted and the details of each section are not immediately revealed to the spectators. The viewer needs to take some time in order to identify all the little aspects and elements of each single drawing.

John Haverty’s large-scale watercolour drawings often have a provocative and direct effect on the spectator. The artist is deeply concerned with contemporary lifestyle and globalisation. He invites us to question ourselves and think about our day-to-day behaviour. Are we acting and doing things well? Discussions around globalisation and its negative consequences are of central importance to John Haverty’s work. The emotions induced by his works are silent but strong.

In 2013, he started working on his main project, an on-going collage titled Gangrene consisting of watercolour and ballpoint pen drawings cut out and grouped together to create bigger and impressive drawing. A large fresco that is visually shocking, it is described as a work that grips the eye. 

Currently, the collage stretches 42 feet long and 9 feet high, and is growing every month. Similar to the Gangrene, his works give the feeling that “if left unchecked these issues will destroy us. The huge collage presents as an untreated wound, manifesting and devouring the vacuous space that surrounds it”. One piece of this impressive collage - Circus (2015) - was selected as the winner artwork for the 2016 edition of the Luxembourg Art Prize among 10 finalists coming from all around the world. Some additional parts will be presented during the exhibition.