DANIEL LEVINE – Painters/Paintings

September 17 – October 23, 2015

Main Gallery and Waiting Room

57W57ARTS is pleased to present a two-part exhibition with artist Daniel Levine. Painters/Paintings brings together a selection of abstract paintings curated by Levine and a solo show of monochrome paintings by Levine.

Painters, in THE WAITING ROOM, will include work by Rudolf de Crignis, Helmut Federle, Paul Feeley, Ron Gorchov, Marcia Hafif, Alfred Jensen, Phil Sims, Peter Tollens, and John Zurier

Paintings will consist of work by Daniel Levine. Since 1990 Levine has created monochrome paintings. By slowly building up layers of paint, he exploits difference: for each work the canvas is often a slightly different color, tone, or weave; it may be stretched at different depths, creating thinner or thicker profiles; the shapes are almost but not quite square; and thin borders amplify the paintings’ varying surfaces. The process, which can take several years, is documented on the back, creating a kind of diary for each work’s growth.

Roberta Smith in the New York Times described Levine’s work as follows: “You may begin this quietly forceful exhibition of meticulously made white-on-white paintings thinking of Robert Ryman, but chances are he will have faded by the end. Mr. Levine applies a few thin coats of oil paint on fine cotton. He works in minute, nearly invisible brush strokes most of the time, and you can almost count the layers of paint. He seems almost to love the cotton as much as the paint, and their tenderly maintained balance is a palpable strength.”