Dan Levin [small works]

On view May 25 – June 7 , 2015

EBK Gallery [small works].
218 Pearl St.
Hartford, CT

“I had these vintage decks of cards and I was fascinated by the history of them. I started cutting through them, kings’ and queens’ faces, but there was something missing. Almost by accident, I turned a deck upside down and looked at the patterns and said ‘wait a second’.”

Friendly lunacy and logic do an odd kind of dance in the assemblage art of Dan Levin. In his approach to the medium this artist understands that logic, even of a twisted variety, can prevent the appearance of randomness in work that’s all about discarded objects. Despite wild-eyed humor and hints of chaos, Levin’s art has a surprising cohesiveness of design through a series of variations on a particular theme. While his art may startle and amuse the observer, there is a method of the artist’s careful devising.

Dan Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1962, raised near New York City and returned to California where he earned a degree in graphic design and fine art in 1984. He has exhibited in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Australia and France (don’t forget Washington and Ohio) with work in collections from New York City to New Zealand. Having spent four years living in Australia and Europe, the artist now resides in Santa Barbara, exploring nature and fabricating assemblages.

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