Grace Levine: whether it is a shout or a whisper

Grace Levine: whether it is a shout or a whisper

November 3-December 31

Opening Reception November 3, 6-8pm

Mid-Reception: December 1, 6-8pm

Grace Levine born 1987 in Chicago Illinois, is a visual artist currently residing in Sebastopol California. She graduated from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in May 2012 where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in drawing and painting. Grace has exhibited work at local Chicago gallery Las Manos, Northern California’s Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Kitty Hawk Gallery and Risk Press Gallery in Sebastopol California. She currently has work in the permanent and public collection of the Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago. Her greatest influences span from the work of artists Henry Darger, Martín Ramírez, Howard Finster and Jockum Nordström. Levine recently opened Kitty Hawk, an art gallery and boutique located in downtown Sebastopol.

Artist Statement:

Most recently my work is aimed to narrate my occasional inability to separate fact from fiction. My practice is commonly illustrative based work, which is often vague and entails an uncertain and misunderstood narrative. My work primarily incorporates gouache, watercolor and acrylic on paper. The figures, or reoccurring themes I draw appear naïve and humorous, yet my intent is somewhat mischievous and problematic. I view my work as a tangled and complicated web of reveries and a sporadic questioning of the human condition.

I am attempting to narrate a bizarre universe where my past and present collide; it is here that sanity, adulthood, childhood, reality and fantasy are examined and altered through a dark, yet humor based vision. Many of my creatures and figures are formed from memory, imagination and nostalgic icons.

I consistently, without fail, complicate ‘things’, and the work I create tends to capture a scattered and neurotic emotional- dialogue. I am in the process of investigating the seemingly peculiar people, places and things that have accompanied me through my existence. Hope you enjoy the ride.