Jonathan LeVine | |
|---|---|
 LeVine at Jonathan LeVine Gallery on September 18, 2008 | |
| Born | 1968 (age 55–56) |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Montclair State University |
| Occupation | Art dealer and gallerist |
| Years active | 2001 |
| Known for | Jonathan LeVine Gallery, Jonathan LeVine Projects |
| Website | jonathanlevineprojects |
Jonathan LeVine is an American art dealer, instrumental in the proliferation of lowbrow and street art on the East Coast of the United States.
LeVine grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. As a teenager, he encountered punk rock music and the punk scene, and began producing fanzines, promoting shows, and booking bands. [1] He attended Montclair State University, and graduated with a degree in sculpture. [2] Beginning in 1994, and while working at Montclair State University, LeVine became an independent curator, exhibiting punk flyers, comics, graffiti, and tattoo art at punk rock venues CBGB, Webster Hall, Max Fish and Maxwell's. [3] [4] Prominent artists in his early exhibitions included the contemporary artist Ron English, the visual artist and musician Daniel Johnston, and the street artist Shepard Fairey. [5] In February 2001, LeVine opened a small gallery called Tin Man Alley in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Tin Man Alley initially sold vintage toys, novelty items, and lowbrow art. [1] LeVine moved his gallery in 2005 to Manhattan, New York City. [2]
In January 2005, LeVine opened the Jonathan LeVine Gallery to the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, at 529 West 20th Street. [6] The gallery promoted graffiti art as fine art, holding a major group show in conjunction with São Paulo's Choque Cultural gallery, in 2007. Work by eight Brazilian street and graffiti artists was exhibited as Ruas De São Paulo. [7] That June, LeVine rented a temporary space, in the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, for Shepard Fairey's exhibition, entitled E Pluribus Venom, and in December LeVine had an international street art show called, entitled The Streets of Europe, which featured artists from France, England, and Italy. [8] The show included the contemporary artist Bo130, the graffiti artist Blek le Rat, the street artist D*Face, and the urban artist Invader. [9] In 2010, he curated a large group show for the fifth anniversary of his gallery, and some of the works were also showcased on The New York Times website, with audio commentary by LeVine. [10] [2]
In early 2012, Gingko Press released Delusional, a biography on LeVine and retrospective of the foundation and development of the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. In it, the author notes LeVine "has nourished a much needed alternative viewpoint within the stilted New York art market." [1] Later that year, the gallery presented Détournement: Signs of the Times, an anticipated group exhibition by curator Carlo McCormick, which featured work by the street artist and realist painter Dan Witz, the photographer and artist Jack Pierson, and Ron English. [11] Nicola Verlato's How The West Was Won was also shown that year. [12] In early 2014, the gallery expanded to a second location in Chelsea, Manhattan, and that same year LeVine partnered with the art magazine Juxtapoz to present Art Truancy: Celebrating 20 Years of Juxtapoz Magazine. [13]
In 2017, the gallery relocated to Jersey City, New Jersey, and was renamed as Jonathan LeVine Projects. It was located at the cultural center Mana Contemporary, and the opening exhibition, entitled Welcome to New Jersey, highlighted street, pop surrealism, and hyper realism art. [14] In 2017 and 2018, LeVine held the Delusional Art Competition, which allows emerging artists the opportunity for solo exhibition in his gallery. [15] In 2018, LeVine relocated the gallery to 150 Bay Street in Jersey City. [4]
In the 1990s, LeVine played in a band called Drywater that reformed in 2016, as Cyclone Static. [4]
LeVine is noted for being a standout contemporary art curator, on the forefront of cutting-edge art trends. [15] Christopher Rodgers of The Jersey Journal asserts that LeVine has "had success helping the careers of many artists." [14] Madonna, Marilyn Manson and Mark Parker have purchased work from LeVine. [2]
Miss Van, also known as Vanessa Alice, is a graffiti and street artist. Miss Van started painting on the street of Toulouse alongside Mademoiselle Kat at the age of 18. Today, she is now internationally known as a street and fine artist. Primarily, her work is marked by the use of unique characters, called poupées, or dolls. Miss Van's work has appeared on streets internationally, although she also exhibits canvases in galleries across France, Europe and the United States. Today, her work is characterized by both street art and fine art, blurring the lines between both worlds.
Frank Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary artist, activist and founder of OBEY Clothing who emerged from the skateboarding scene. In 1989 he designed the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).
Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine is a magazine created in 1994 by a group of artists and art collectors including Robert Williams, Fausto Vitello, C.R. Stecyk III, Greg Escalante, and Eric Swenson to both help define and celebrate urban alternative and underground contemporary art. Juxtapoz is published by High Speed Productions, the same company that publishes Thrasher skateboard magazine in San Francisco, California.
James Jean is a Taiwanese-American visual artist working primarily in painting and drawing. He lives and works in Los Angeles, where he moved from New York in 2003.
Lowbrow, or lowbrow art, is an underground visual art movement that arose in the Los Angeles, California area in the late 1960s. It is a populist art movement with its cultural roots in underground comix, punk music, tiki culture, graffiti, and hot-rod cultures of the street. It is also often known by the name pop surrealism. Lowbrow art often has a sense of humor – sometimes the humor is gleeful, impish, or a sarcastic comment.
David Choe is an American artist, musician, actor, and former journalist and podcast host from Los Angeles. Choe's work appears in a wide variety of urban culture and entertainment contexts. He has illustrated and written for magazines including Hustler, Ray Gun and Vice. He has an ongoing relationship with the Asian pop culture website, store, and former magazine Giant Robot.
Dean Stockton, better known by his alias D*Face, is an English multimedia street artist who uses spray paint, stickers, posters, and stencils.
Mark Dean Veca is an American artist based in Altadena, California. He creates paintings, drawings and large-scale installations.
Urban art combines street art and graffiti and is often used to summarize all visual art forms arising in urban areas, being inspired by urban architecture or present urban lifestyle. Because the urban arts are characterized by existing in the public space, they are often viewed as vandalism and destruction of private property.
Agata Oleksiak, known as Olek, is a Polish artist who is based in New York City. Their works include sculptures, installations such as crocheted bicycles, inflatables, performance pieces, and fiber art. They have covered buildings, sculptures, people, and an apartment with crochet and have exhibited in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, France, Italy, Poland, and Costa Rica.
Kris Lewis is an American contemporary realist artist from Jackson Township, New Jersey. His primary medium is oil paints.
Tara McPherson is an American artist based in New York. McPherson creates paintings, murals, poster art, and designer toys, within the New Contemporary Art movement.
Dan Witz is a Brooklyn, NY based street artist and realist painter. He grew up in Chicago, IL, and graduated in 1981 from Cooper Union, on New York City's Lower East Side. Witz, consistently active since the late 1970s, is one of the pioneers of the street art movement.
Tim Conlon is an American artist and graffiti writer known for large-scale murals and works on canvas. He was featured as one of several artists in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery exhibit, Recognize! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture, which included four large graffiti murals painted by Conlon and collaborator, David Hupp in 2008. This marked the first modern graffiti ever to be in the Smithsonian Institution.
Hannah Stouffer is an American artist, illustrator and art director living and working in Los Angeles, California. She became known through her art exhibitions, as well as for her contributions to the making of individual and collective art installations and murals worldwide. As a book author, her curatorial review of contemporary ceramics and its methods The New Age of Ceramics has received distinct attention in specialized art sources. Stouffer also acted as curator and designer of illuminated works Lust for Light, printed and distributed by Gingko Press.
Lennie Mace is an American contemporary artist, born in New York City. Mace is predominantly known for his drawings in ballpoint pen, using them to create fine artwork. He is considered a pioneer of the medium. His imagination has also served commercial purposes, appearing in print as illustrations and comic art. Art reviewers have referred to Mace as the da Vinci of doodlers and the ballpoint Picasso.
Greg "Craola" Simkins is an American artist.
Conor Harrington is an Irish street/graffiti artist based in London, England.
Roger Gastman is an American art dealer, curator, filmmaker, and publisher who focuses on graffiti and street art.
Pose is a contemporary American artist living and working in Chicago, Illinois.
Citations
Bibliography
Media related to Jonathan LeVine at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
