Featured Artist Mark Levin

The sensuous organic forms of artist Mark Levin’s wood furniture and sculpture are inspired by nature’s curves and flowing movements. View more by visiting his website.

 

 

There was never the drive to be an artist.

I simply like making beautiful objects, and those objects painted me into the art world. Four decades later, I’m still attempting to come to terms with that world but have never found the right solvent.

 

 

The origin of my work takes place on the raggedy edges of my imagination, but the heavy lifting takes place during my daily walks along the New Mexico trails. Walking is an integral part of both my design process and my daily life, for it keeps that ball of string taut.

 

 

As I walk I let the design brew, slice and dice it with more miles, take it to the studio and choreograph with pencil and paper.

 

 

The technique I use for building my work is various stack lamination techniques where one layer of wood is glued on top of another creating a large “blank” from which the work is sculpted. The work is roughed out with chainsaws and automobile disc grinders, and then refined with sanders, rasps, files and hand scrapers.

 

 

The grain and beauty of the wood have little influence in the design of my work. I create with wood because of its intrinsic value, virility and quickness of execution. I visualize new work in matte black, for if it has presence adorned only in black, then the beauty of the wood becomes the dark chocolate frosting on the velvet cake.

 

 

I start a new work with the intention that the piece will be unique. But often after completing a piece, the work develops an aesthetic volition and extrapolates into other variations centered around the same theme. This expansion of how the Leaf Series, Fruit Series and others evolved.

 

 

Some series have a lifespan of a few years, while others continue to grow over the decades. Most all series share the commonality of the righteous curve intersection with perfect fluid movement, and that foreplay creates the various sensual personalities. The curves of the Fruit and Ripple Series are the lust of a one-night stand; the Leaf series are the curves of the soft caress, the Profile Series are the curves and movement of a flawless pirouette and the Flower Series are the curves of love and death.

 

 

Nature is the obvious inspiration for my work, but again it’s about curves and movement; the work of Richard Serra, Constantin Brâncuși, stiletto heels, a woman’s body, Le Corbusier’s Ronchamp chapel, the bridges by Santiago Calatrava, the rustling of leaves, and the arc between the first and last kiss.

 

 

The future will bring a movement away from functional work and a larger investment of time creating sculpture based on the themes of fruit, flowers, leaves, body parts and a series of geometric work. It was almost a flip of a coin that I went with organic forms over geometric shapes. I have a large reserve of non-organic shaped designs in my sketchbook, for I worship the beauty of math and the Mondrian elegance of Microsoft® Excel.

 

 

I look at my sketchbook and models and recognize it’s not all going to come to fruition as I enter the fall of my life. My goals are now to keep that ball of string from unraveling, build some damn fine work and enjoy the denouement.

 

Artist Mark Levin invites you to follow him on Facebook and Instagram.

 

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