Tom Levine has been content to live his life far from the limelight currently enjoyed by his older brother James Levine, music director of the Metropolitan Opera.
Tom, 68, is an artist who is only now achieving wider recognition for his work. He has long enjoyed the respect of his fellow artists and collectors of his abstract paintings. His works hang in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art and the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.
But outside of the rarefied art world, his name recognition is nowhere near that of his famous older brother. And Tom has been fine with that. In fact, when he isn't painting, he works as a business assistant for James. Tom takes care of non-musical matters like arranging rehearsal schedules, answering questions and accompanying the maestro on European tours.
The Washburn Gallery in New York is currently exhibiting Tom's new works, which represent a major turning point in his career. Long known for his expressive, muted and geometric abstractions, these new works mark the first time in his career he has painted from the human figure.
And so he is reluctantly venturing into the spotlight to answer questions about his work. "I'm shy when it gets down to it," Tom told Jennifer Maloney of The Wall Street Journal, who recently published a profile of the unassuming artist.
For his new paintings, Levine asked friends to stand in front of a blank canvas while he shone a bright light on them. He traced and retraced their silhouettes from different angles. The result is a sense of movement and dynamism that is not often present in figurative painting.
"My last exhibit at Washburn included works constructed with wire or string laced across the front of the paintings and attached to a perimeter frame which projected a few inches from the edge of the painting. The wire made wonderful linear shadows on the flat painted surface that would change constantly, depending on the light source," said Levine while describing his interest in figurative painting.
"These new pieces are a continuation of this curiosity about light, shadows and reflections," he explained. "I trace the silhouettes of my models with charcoal or graphite on the linen. Each time the model changes position, a new silhouette on the same painting is traced. This is repeated many times. Then I continue alone, using the drawn lines as a basis for adding oil pigment."
Levine's solo exhibit at the Washburn Gallery will continue through May 10.
More information is available at washburngallery.com.
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