Due to the damage and closures in Asheville caused by Hurricane Helene on Sept 27, 2024, that continued through most of November, we have decided to present Haverkamp's exhibition at a more appropriate time.

Bender Gallery is honored to present Spirit of Myth, a solo exhibition of masterful works by internationally acclaimed figurative artist Seth Haverkamp.  There will be thirty luminous oil paintings displayed ranging in genre from portraiture to still life to landscape.  Haverkamp’s intimate paintings narrate the mystery of the human condition and those otherworldly, unexplainable moments that we experience at one time or another.  The exhibition runs from May 31 through June 21, 2025, during the gallery’s regular business hours.  There will be an artist reception on Saturday, May 31, from 5 to 8 PM.

The exhibition examines the mythology of everyday life:  forged from shared remembrances, familial ties, and the small, yet marvelous wonders of the natural world.  It is an intimate portal into Haverkamp’s radiant jewel-toned world, primarily through portraits of the artist’s family painted with pure color and the drama of dark and light. The artist’s four beautiful children are his favorite muses. This gives him great freedom in creating his unique settings and interplay with his subjects. No ordinary paintings, Haverkamp’s subjects are like characters in a play, clothed in intricate garments and posed with imaginative props. He augments reality with the inclusion of luminous and mystical elements, which push his portraits onto another level.  The artist’s partial colorblindness allows him a unique perspective and opens a world of possibilities to alter reality.

Haverkamp explains, “My paintings are meant to be a snapshot of an expression, a gesture, a mystical moment. They are my modern take on the passing down of the tradition of storytelling.  I hope to provide a modern feel to the mythical, not a retelling of myths of old.” Haverkamp’s new paintings, including Opal’s Moon, are set against the background of a remote family cabin on a tiny private island in Canada.  The escapism of this environment has been important throughout the artist’s life.  He wants that quality to pervade the atmosphere and mood in the new body of work.

Haverkamp graduated in 2003 from Carson Newman College with a BFA in Painting and has studied under the guidance of Nelson Shanks of Studio Incamminati and Robert Liberace, who profoundly influenced him.  He has won numerous awards and accolades over his career. In 2019, he won the Portrait Society of America’s International Competition Draper Grand Prize for Mars Rising, a nearly life-size painting of his son Caspian, in a dark moody setting defiantly holding a string of origami birds.