Bree Adams. Linfield alumnus Keenan Havens spent his college years covering miles of walls and printer paper with his artwork. This dedication has carried on beyond graduation into the Portland art community, and it is paying off. Havens had his third solo show last August, his ninth exhibit in total.
“I’ve been lucky enough to be in a show about every other month since graduation,” Havens said. “Portland is a great place to show, with such a strong art community and number of galleries.”
Havens recently developed tendonitis from the labor-intensive nature of his work, but he hasn’t let this hinder his creativity.
“I can’t draw with my right hand now, so I’ve started drawing with my left hand,” he said. “I have such a strong desire to draw that I have to fulfill it. It’s tradition, a routine, something that characterizes me and helps define me.”
Each piece of his work is hand-drawn in stark detail, with haunting images and obvious attention to movement featuring startling blood-red spot coloring.
Havens said he sees his drawings as a record of internal changes in his personal life.
“I don’t see it while I’m doing it, but I look at the drawing afterward and see the emotion and my obsession of certain characters,” he said. “It’s a shrine or a documentation of my subconscious without direct intentions.”
This lack of conscious effort has worked for him for some time. Havens has never applied for any showings or sent out a résumé; he’s always been invited. He stores images of his work on his iPod and shows them wherever he goes to whomever is curious.
“They like my work or they don’t,” Havens said. “It’s apparent for what it is; it shouldn’t have to be explained. It should be taken at face value.”
Havens is confident in his art but still has trepidations about his place in the art community. He believes himself to be part of the “Outsider Art” scene, focused around the southeast Portland region and emphasizing pop-culture art. His style is so unique, however, he finds it difficult to label himself in his graduate school applications.
“I’m good at doing my own work and being myself,” he said. “But in a program, I don’t know where I classify.”
Havens will participate in a group show Sept. 24 at the Goodfoot Lounge in Portland. For more information on Havens and his artwork, visit www.keenanhavens.com.