Nina Levy Compels Us With More Creepiness at the Salamatina Gallery

above: Nina Levy, Boy With Eyes, 2011 (cropped)

Artist Nina Levy recently exhibited “Related Forms” at the Salamantina Gallery in New York. Her first exhibition in New York in five years, it featured two new sculptures, a new series of photographs, and a selection of Levy’s work from the last ten years.

This has prompted me to reprise a post I wrote on her work a few years back and share the new pieces with you along with much of her work.


above: Nina Levy, Boy With Fist, 2011

Artist Nina Levy has been living and working in Williamsburg, Brooklyn since 1996. A prolific photographer and sculptor, her work has been widely exhibited across the United States, including The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. where her life-sized portraits of four artists' heads hung as part of the gallery reopening in 2007 (shown below):


above: a view of the installation in the National Portrait Gallery in the Smithsonian, 2007

above: life-sized self-portrait sculpture Spectator, 2002 (also used in the 2007 National Portrait Gallery installation)

An artist who has long worked with body parts made of oil-painted resin, gypsum or clay, fiberglass, cast polyurethane and other materials for over a decade to create large outdoor sculptures, indoor installations, portrait heads, and self-portraits in many forms, created her own series of family portraits or 'family resemblance' from 2006-2008.


above: Woman with huge fist (self-portrait) 2008

She has a very impressive education, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude from Yale with a B.A. in English and Art in 1989 and she received a Masters in Fine Arts from The University of Chicago in 1993. She's also the mother of two young boys, whom are frequently the subjects of her recent photographs. But these aren't the kind of family photos you're used to seeing embellishing hallways and mantels.


above: family resemblance, 30" x 24" EDITION OF 6 + A.P.

To say that her portraits of herself and her family, consisting largely of her two sons, Archer, now 8 and Ansel, now 4, are bizarre is an understatement. Creepy and disturbing may be more appropriate descriptors for some viewers.


above: Nina's older son Archer with giant prosthetic baby head,2007

above: Nina's youngest son Ansel with giant prosthetic baby head, 2007

What's respectable, and certainly unexpected nowadays, is that there is no digital manipulation involved in her photographs. She actually sculpts the enlarged body parts or prostheses and then juxtaposes them with her subjects, so that the size relationships you see are actual real physical representations.



Babies eating babies, children cradling what look like lifeless bodies and small-framed, vulnerable boys sporting hulk-like hands and steroidal limbs are the subjects of some of her these recent photos. Here's a look at much of her family portraits and family resemblance photographs, 2006-2008:





Nina explains: "I have been interested in using fragmentation and shifts in scale to explore both discomfort with the human body and with other people"








"I started to make photographs, mostly featuring myself interacting with a series of sculptural props and prosthetics that I modeled and fabricated from clay or plaster and cast in resin," she says.



"I am now the mother of two small boys, and the primary subject of my work has become my own dysfunctional parenting and the often overwhelming intensity of small children"






"Ansel, however, boycotted my last photo shoot," says Nina, "and is under-represented... but thanks to the promise of a highly desirable set of action figures, Archer was willing to assist me"







"The photographs were, and still remain, very low tech - there is no digital manipulation," says Nina. "All of the objects and people in the images exist exactly as they appear."



Special thanks to the UK's Telegraph for the quotes from the interview with Nina.

HER PORTRAIT COMMISSIONS:

Her commissioned portrait heads are available cast in resin, ultracal or gypsum painted with oils and in more traditional treatments and materials (bronze, plaster, cement). Please contact Nina Levy for more information.

See her website here.
To check out her work prior to 2002, go here.


SALAMATINA GALLERY
2210 Northern Boulevard
Manhasset, NY 11030
AMERICANA MANHASSET
GALLERY HOURS: Mon - Sat 10-6/Thur 10-7/Sun 12-6
T: 516 439 4471

Airigami: The Fine Art of Balloon Sculpture by Larry Moss.

above: James Abbot McNeil's Whistler's Mother recreated in balloons by Larry Moss.

Balloon sculptor Larry Moss has many installations, fashions, and designs crafted of colored latex balloons to his credit.


above: The balloon Spinosaurus, designed and created by Mark Verge, a talented member of Larry Moss' team

Amongst his many unusual balloon sculptures, which he has termed Airigami*, is a series of famous pieces of fine art recreated with latex balloons.

Boticelli's Birth Of Venus, recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

Birth of Venus in balloons (details):


Grant Wood's American Gothic recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

Cezanne still life, recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

Leonardo DaVinci's Mona Lisa recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Can recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

Jackson Pollock painting recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:

MC Escher's Self Portrait in Reflecting Sphere recreated in ballons by Larry Moss:

Leonardo DaVinci's Vitruvian Man recreated in balloons by Larry Moss:


A video which shows some of the original paintings morphing into Larry's balloon versions:


You can purchase these images and more as cards, posters, t-shirts, limited edition prints and more here at the Airigami gift shop.

*Airi•gam•i (\’er-?-’gä-m?\ n : the fine art of folding air) stands at the crossroads of three ancient art forms: sculpture, puppetry and origami.

About Larry Moss:


Larry Moss began his career 25 years ago as a NYC street performer, but has gone on to display his amazing air-filled art in 12 countries on four continents. His achievements have been recognized by The Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press, CNN Headline, PBS, Smithsonian Magazine, American Profile and Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Moss has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, NBC’s “Today” and at the White House, and has held the Guinness World Record for the largest non-round balloon sculpture since 2000. The author of many published ballooning books, Larry also has a degree in applied math and computer science, as well as a master’s in elementary education. Building community through his large-scale art creations is of particular interest to Larry, and was the focus of his 2009 TEDx talk in Rochester, NY.

Kelly Cheatle, Designer and New Media Marketing Director for Airigami:



Kelly Cheatle loves creating in any medium. She received her design degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a minor in Illustration, and a major interest in every studio elective she could find. She utilizes her diverse knowledge of traditional materials and image-making techniques daily in her work as a graphic designer/illustrator. She became Larry’s design partner upon informing him that she was going to help whether he wanted her to or not. While Kelly initially focused on non-balloon aspects of Airigami projects, the opportunity to work in a new medium was simply too much for her to resist.

A Little Lichtenstein For Your Home. Rugs & Sculpture By The Famous Pop Artist.

Attention Pop Art lovers, now you can add a little Lichtenstein to your home with this fabulous pop art carpeting and a limited edition sculpture from the famed Pop Artist Roy Lichtenstein.



I spotted (no pun intended) this carpet years ago, but was never able to find where or how to purchase it. Now, Artware Editions is selling the pop art carpeting made by Vorwerk, as wall-to-wall or a bound area rug.



Artist: Roy Lichtenstein (American, 1923 - 1997)
Object: Carpeting
printed nylon
14’ minimum width
Retail Price: $18 / square foot
Description: This carpet design by Roy Lichtenstein is available as wall-to-wall carpeting or bound as a custom-sized area rug with black trim. The nylon makes it perfect for high-traffic areas or kids’ play rooms.

Allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. A 50% deposit is required to place an order.

In addition to the rug, for serious art collector's, they are also selling this wonderful original Roy Lichtenstein porcelain and cast resin mobile sculpture in a limited edition of 125.






With Landscape Mobile, Roy Lichstenstein has designed a beautiful "art system" as a table centerpiece. Invoking Alexander Calder's standing mobiles, Lichtenstein termed this piece a "stabile". It is in fact a non-moving object representing a tall tree set in a green basin intended to be filled with flowers. To create a sense of moveable, balancing parts, Lichtenstein added an abstracted background of clouds, rain and a bright yellow sun. This porcelain and cast resin stabile can be viewed from all four sides, and its thin profile makes it an ideal and unobstrusive centerpiece.

Manufactured by Bernardaud in Limoges, France. The edition of 125 is individually signed and numbered.

Buy both here at Artware Editions