All good things must come to an end — but not a temporary structure? “A lot of art has to do
all ends are lucky enough to be good, much less with the language of architecture. Being aware of
artistic. So when the Art League of Houston gave space and how it relates is a big focus of the proj-
two local artists the freedom to transform soon- ect. We approached the houses as one big object
to-be-demolished houses into one giant sculp- — not as something small in a container — but
ture, the artists jumped at the opportunity. something we could carve,” says Havel. “We also
The result? Inversion, a wormhole-like fissure were interested in manipulating a solid geometric
in the side of a house that looks like a time architectural form to create a more fluid, organic
travel experiment gone awry. While no unusual characteristic.”
gravitational fields are detectable in the area, this Inversion came to its end in June 2005. “A key
anomaly still has the power to suck in passersby. component of the project was the structure’s
Houston sculptors Dan Havel and Dean Ruck demolition,” said the artists. “The temporary,
created the giant sculpture by peeling off the ephemeral aspect of the project forces the viewer
exterior skin of the old houses and connecting to experience the project differently, retaining
the wooden planks in spiral fashion inward. The a stronger memory of the houses instead of it
resulting funnel is about 8 feet in diameter at its becoming an everyday background on Montrose
opening and converges to about 2 feet as it exits Boulevard. Inversion celebrates both the past and
into a courtyard behind both buildings. future of the Art League as it nears groundbreak-
What drives two artists to spend 300 hours ing of a new studio/classroom building.” stripping planks and wielding nail guns to create —Jill Butler
Photograph by Jill Butler
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