Artist's Statement
Neil Seth Levine grew up in a family of artists and started drawing at an early age. Both of his parents studied painting and his grandfather, a graphic designer and illustrator, taught art in the New York City public schools.
At 14, he began working in visual merchandising in a local department store in his home town of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and two years later became the youngest student accepted at Temple University's Stella Elkins Tyler School of Fine Arts.
After completing an undergraduate degree in textile design at the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science, he worked as a fabric designer for a prominent New York City fashion house.
In 1984, Levine moved to San Francisco to paint. Working primarily in pastels and acrylics, he explored themes of spiritual renewal prevalent in West Coast life, experimenting with vibrant color in large landscape, abstract, and figurative canvasses that hang in corporate and private collections internationally.
Always interested in scale, he was drawn to larger and larger surfaces, and eventually to mural-sized pieces. His theatre and city life murals at the Little Hollywood Launderette on San Francisco's Market Street were named the most dynamic works of 1992 by the mural preservation organization Precita Eyes Mural Arts Center.
A new mural is scheduled to open in Alhambra, outside of Los Angeles, in Summer, 2005. Set in tile, the three-story work (it will be the largest glass tile mural in the United States) reflects the celebration of tactile experience and early fascination with design apparent in Levine's ongoing exploration of new media.
A prolific output of signature work includes textiles, jewelry, lighting fixtures, graphics, packaging, and product branding. Throughout his work, as one can see from the still life flower scans, Levine strives for an element of the uncanny.
Send comments and questions to dayle@dayledunn.com
Copyright 2002 Dayle Dunn Gallery. All rights reserved.
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