New York-based artist David
X. Levine is a synesthete who hears music as color. From
Howlin’Wolf to Sonic Youth, Levine doesn’t miss a beat
in connecting his passion for
drawing to his unique relationship with music. Ranging from six to
sixty inches in size, his
vibrant mandalas are densely
rendered in black ink and color
pencil. Spinning across the page
with the rhythmic force of a DJ’s
record machine, these mandalas— radiant, restrained, abbreviated,
right on target— transcend
time in their mission to “take you higher.” The
emblematic, folk-like quality of his work belies a sophisticated knowledge
of traditional
drawing practices. Through a complex layering of color wash and repeated
pattern,
Levine’s finished drawings exude an uncompromising precision
and idiosyncratic
authority that is totally in sync with the rock-and-roll legends he
salutes.
David X. Levine
Born 1962 Boston, Massachusetts. Lives in New York, New York.
Levine's
solo exhibitions include Recent Drawings at OSP
Gallery in Boston (2003) and Teenage Symphonies to God at
Cynthia Broan Gallery in New York (2002). His work has been featured
in group shows at McKenzie Fine Art in New York (2004); Bodybuilders & Sportsmen
in Chicago (2003); Kunstverein Firma in Linz, Austria (2003);
and Gallery Lombardi in Austin, Texas (2003).
BACK TO ARTISTS
|
