"Divine source" guides this artist - Sarasota Herald-Tribune - by Nancy Chapman - October 13, 2007
During the month of October, Brian Haverlock will be showing new work under the title of "Godseeker: A Return to Origins." The preview will take place Friday, October 5 from 6 to 9 PM and continue Saturday October 6 through Saturday October 27, 2007.
After Haverlock completed a painting he calls "Godseeker" for this new exhibition he found himself in a mental place he had not been before. A student of theology who spent seven years studying in a Franciscan monastery he wanted "to return to the beginning." There are many symbols in the new work. The bag appears as a symbol of a journey, a pilgrimage or a transformation. With the symbols he "wants to challenge common thinking." The fish represents the secret code symbol the Greeks used to communicate they were Christians. The Greek word for fish - Ichthys (ICQUS) is an anagram containing the initials for the words - Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. One of Haverlock's new works is called "Mother of Ichthys." She is grotesque and beautiful. Haverlock likes to contrast the two. As well as paintings Haverlock's exhibition will include some new assemblage pieces.
Haverlock draws "inspiration from life experiences as well as sacred scripture, symbols and art history." He is fascinated by the aesthetic qualities of antique photographs. He crafts his small works with meticulous attention to detail. His paintings are composed of a graphite under drawing with oil paint glazes on heavy Bainbridge hot press board. The works are small in scale averaging 7 x 5 inches and he has made some works as small as 1 ¾ inches square and as large as 9 ¼ x 5 3/16 inches. Haverlock builds his own frames often beginning with a vintage frame or working with other found materials such as metal, fabric, wood and hair.
Haverlock's focus on the detail of line recalls the work of artists from the late15th and early 16th century Renaissance in Northern Europe. Haverlock's work reminds the viewer of artists such as Albrecht Dürer whose quality of drawn line dominates the viewer's sensibility. While not overtly religious in tone there is a mystical quality about Haverlock's work that stimulates the conscious and subconscious.
Haverlock began drawing in the 1970's living with his parents in a small town in North Dakota. There he was influenced by the vast open spaces, the big skies and the roaming buffalo. Since then he has lived in North Carolina, England, Philadelphia, Central America, Washington D. C., and now Florida.
His work has been exhibited and collected internationally. In 1999, his first breakthrough exhibition was at the Art of the Northeast USA: 50th Annual Juried Art Exhibition in Connecticut, juried by Allan Stone of Allan Stone Gallery in New York. Since then he has had opportunities to exhibit with Allan Stone Gallery and other galleries in New York. He is a recipient of the 2005 John Ringling Artist Grants awarded by the Sarasota County Arts Council.
In 1994, he graduated from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC with a BFA in painting. In May, 2004, he completed an MA in Theology at the Washington Theological Union in Washington, DC. Haverlock maintains a studio in Englewood, Florida.