by Dan Levenson
Painting : oil
119 x 84 cm 46.9 x 33.1 inch
One of the last works available by this artist
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About the artwork
Type
Unique work
Signature
Hand-signed by artist
Authenticity
Sold with certificate of Authenticity from the gallery
Invoice from the gallery
Medium
Painting: oil
Dimensions cm • inch
119 x 84 cm 46.9 x 33.1 inch Height x Width x Depth
Framing
Not framed
Artwork sold in perfect condition
Artwork location: France
Some tired-looking old furniture marked by the passing of time stands proudly in the middle of the studio, whereas the artist’s canvasses are sensibly stored away in a multitude of boxes piled one on top of the other. It looks like the paintings are trying desperately to escape, without ever quite succeeding. Some that seem to have the artist’s favour have won the right to be present and are spread across a table that’s just as old and worn as the rest of the furniture.
The confusion really arises when we discover the paintings. Are we in the studio of a follower of Bauhaus, a constructivist artist, or rather a fellow traveller of the Abstraction-Création group? In fact, Dan Levenson is a young artist from New York who has recently settled in Los Angeles, someone who seems perfectly serene and in tune with his times. I saw in Dan a connection with a Tim Burton-like character. Levenson asserts his right to mystify, however a predominant sense of mischief outweighs his vanity.
There is a joyous and a poetical Dadaist vibe to his work that leaves room for a form of poetry, a picturesque narrative that lends its secret energy to the story he is telling, deeply marking it with strength and life. Profoundly rooted in an overall conceptual theme, Dan Levenson’s paintings are in touch with the traditions of historical art and fantasy.
According to the artist: “My work deals with a completely fictional narrative about a community of Swiss artists in a generic modern-day past. The story’s protagonists are the various institutions that surround the artists, whereas the latter’s individual identities remain unknown. These institutions include an art school, an art gallery, a manufacturer of art and office supplies, a publishing company, a philanthropic tobacco manufacturer and a state-like entity, the Swiss Standards Organization.”
Levenson takes on every role: the painter paints, the sculptor sculpts, the installation artist installs and the designer designs. A plural form of art, a pluralism that is the consequence of Dan Levenson’s aesthetic approach that he sums up with his trademark ingenuity and irreverence: “I avoid any claims of authenticity, the fragmented story is told through a wide variety of media, which represent the material remnants of a forgotten culture. The paintings are central to the project.”
About the seller
Praz-Delavallade • France
Artsper seller since 2017
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Presentation
Dan Levenson, born in 1972 in New York, United States, is an American artist currently based in Los Angeles. He completed his diploma at the Royal College of Art in London in 1997.
Since his graduation, Levenson's work has been showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions worldwide. His exhibitions include notable venues such as White Columns, New York, NY; LAXART, Los Angeles, CA; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA; PARTICIPANT INC, New York, NY; EFA Gallery, New York, NY; Peloton, Sydney, Australia; and OfficeOps, Brooklyn, NY.
Levenson is renowned for his geometric style, which balances ultra-contemporary aesthetics with a deep reverence for art history. His oil paintings on canvas are meticulously composed, featuring recurring geometric patterns such as rectangles, circles, squares, triangles, and other linear designs. Initially, Levenson's works were monochrome, characterized by black and white tones with a dried, aged appearance. However, his recent works showcase a richer and brighter color palette, incorporating superimposed geometric shapes on white backgrounds.
In 2018, the Praz-Delavallade gallery in Paris held an exhibition titled "SKZ Forms and Colour Studies," dedicated to Levenson's work. The series exhibited evoked a hybrid blend of abstract art and the Bauhaus school of design.
Levenson's paintings are part of a broader, fantastical narrative. He has created an imaginary art school, the State Art Academy Zürich, purportedly attended by a group of anonymous Swiss artists. This fictional community includes various invented institutions such as a philanthropic tobacco company, a desk manufacturer, and the governmental Swiss Standards Organisation. His work, rich in conceptual themes, often carries a Dadaist tone in its abstraction.
Dan Levenson's unique approach to art, combining geometric abstraction with a fictional narrative, has established him as a distinctive figure in contemporary art. His works not only explore the boundaries of abstraction but also engage with a broader conceptual framework, inviting viewers into his imaginative world.
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