FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 1983
LES LEVINE
NEW MEDIA PROJECTS
OPENING MAY 14 – JUNE 11
GALLERY HOURS: TUES-SAT 10-6
MEDIA ARTIST
A major exhibition of the work of Les Levine, the founder of media art, will open at Ronald Feldman Fine Arts on Saturday, May 14th.
The artist considers media to be the main substance of his art and believes that the same advertising space used by mass media to sell us products can be used to bring us new art experiences.
Included in the exhibition are originally designed 30-sheet posters measuring 22 ft. wide x 10 ft. high to be posted in outdoor billboard advertising spaces. The works are originally hand-drawn and then transformed into billboards. The titles of these billboards are AIM, RACE and TAKE.
A.R.T.
AIM consists of a colored image of a deer on the side of a mountain. To the deer's right in bold red letters is the word AIM.
RACE consists of a black and white image of a horse in a field. To its right in bold black letter is the word RACE.
TAKE consists of a colored image of a crane lifting materials from the earth. To the crane's left in bright red letters is the word TAKE.
The artist Les Levine has stated, "The use of language in these works initiates a mystery in the viewer's mind. The solution to this puzzle is the position the viewer finally takes."
GIANT CRAYON DRAWINGS
Also in the exhibition are giant crayon drawings which are models for media projects. The titles of these drawings are TAKING A POSITION, GROW, PULL, STEAL, WIN, HIDE and LEAVE. These drawings are enormous in scale, some of them being 22 ft. long, and are made in oil crayon on canvas.
TAKING A POSITION (22' x 6½') consists of images of 2 deers lying on either side of a highway. In the center in bold yellow letters, upside down, are the words TAKING A POSITION. In order to read this work the viewer must take a position.
GROW (12' x 17½') is a picture of a magic landscape. In the center in orange is the word GROW.
PULL (90" x 96") consists of an image of a giant red tractor with the word PULL at the top.
STEAL (78" x 96") consists of an image of an institutional building. In front of the building in red letters is the word STEAL.
WIN (78" x 96") consists of a colored image of a horse in a stall. To its left in blue letters is the word WIN.
HIDE (96" x 78") consists of an image of a red house in the woods with the word HIDE in front of it.
LEAVE (13' x 8') consists of an image of a small town. In the sky above it is the word LEAVE in green letters.
SIGNALS
SIGNALS are 10 ft. high x 6½ ft. wide colored oil crayon canvas drawings of people using hand gestures to communicate. The communicators in these works are artists, poets, dancers, writers, filmmakers, including Pierre Restany, Carla Stellweg and John Perreault. Each of them makes a gesture which implies a "sending." The gesture sent epitomizes the activity of the sender.
Originally the artist asked each of these people to make a gesture. He then made a plasticene model inventing an imaginary landscape for each of the senders and from these plasticene models the final large-scale SIGNALS were made. In each SIGNAL the imaginary landscape represents the psychological world of the individual who is signaling.
In these works there is an apparent attempt to signify without reliance on the structure of language. The viewer is convinced that he or she has been sent a message, the content of which remains an erotic mystery.
VISIONS FROM THE GOD WORLD
VISIONS FROM THE GOD WORLD is a photo-video installation which incorporates 5 channels of video and photographic panels. All 5 channels are seen simultaneously on separate monitors stacked one on top of the other, skyscraper fashion. The photographic panels consists of images of people stepping off the escalator taken by the artist, combined with cliched, touristic images. On top of these combined images the artist has painted converging, floating, geometric outlines.
In 1981 Richard Simmons described VISIONS as follows:
"The artist uses the term 'God World' to identify a fictional space in which one is satisfied in all worldly ways; material, physical, intellectual, etc. Figures move through an environment of commodity and sensation in a never-ending search for bouyancy and ego support. The work is a theological/technical fantasy about desire and illumination. The soundtrack utilizes a continually repeated male falsetto to invoke terrestrial possibilities and to suggest an escape from discomfort. There is no philosophical argument present; rather Levine creates a complex visual texturing to represent a psychological state and a unique visual discourse for the process of thinking itself."
Les Levine describes himself as a media sculptor. He was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1935 and now lives in New York City. His first videotapes were produced in 1964. His work has been involved with media since the late 60's. In 1970 he coined the term "media art" to describe his work in the Jewish Museum show entitled "Software."
He has had over 100 one-man shows in the United States and abroad. He uses technology and information media extensively and had introduced the terms "disposable art," "camera art" and "software art.' He has produced environments, process pieces, systems pieces, outdoor billboards and videotapes. He participated in Documenta 77, Kassel, as well as several other important international exhibitions. Some of the public collections which own Les Levine's work are The Museum of Modern Art, NY; The Corcoran Museum, Washington D.C.; The National Gallery of Canada; The Beaubourg, Paris; The National Gallery of Australia; The Philadelphia Museum of Fine Art and The Boston Museum of Fine Art.
The exhibition continues through June 11th. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 – 6 PM (Monday by appointment only.) The public is invited to the opening Saturday, May 14th from 5 to 7 PM.
For further information and photographs contact: Lynn Cassaniti 226-3232
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