NINA LEVY
Other People's Heads |
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| october 9 - november 10, 2002
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Other Peoples' Heads is a series of portrait heads of artists, dealers, curators and critics. The heads are cast and painted resin and fiberglass and are slightly smaller than life size. They are hung from the ceiling at the eye level of the subject creating the illusion of a room full of people without the bodies. The very life like nature of her sculptures allows for intimate examination of another, such as one normally only experiences with lovers and small children. This series of art world personalities, all professional "eyes" are now on display for the visitor to scrutinize them.
Nina Levy has acquired renown through her wry and challenging installations utilizing her own body as the model for her resin cast sculptures which explore notions of scale disjunction, and challenge the viewers' gaze.
Educated at Yale and University of Chicago, Nina Levy's work has been reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, and the New Yorker. She was a fellow at the prestigious Art OMi, summer 2002, she presented a highly acclaimed piece at Eyewash at Holland Tunnel, Williamsburg, in the winter of 2002, and was in the well received Terrors and Wonders, Monsters in Contemporary Art at the DeCordova Museum in 2001. Her sculptures and photographs were presented in Sept. 2002 at Feigen Contemporary, Chelsea.
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From the review by Janet Koplos that appeared in
Art in America
March 2003
"At Metaphor, Levy presented "Other People's Heads" a selection of 21
smaller than life portrait heads. ...Hung from the ceiling on a length of
clear line that placed [them] at the subjects actual heights. ...dispersed
around the room as if this were an opening party, rotating slowly on air
currents as though people were mingling. The gathering seemed animated yet
eerily muted. The heads are masterful portraits...rich with details such as
dimples, bags under eyes, creases in front of ears. Also in the show were
several photos, including one showing the artist's real head beside its
larger, paler duplicate, framed by her own hand and an oversize modeled hand.
...Doubling seems to be a philosophical constant in Levy's work. In a way
that's the nature of a portrait. She is self-conciously, postmodernly calling
attention to the nature of what she does as an artist. ...Dramatic and
engaging work."
From the review by Robert C. Morgan that appeared in Sculpture
April 2003
"Nina Levy's previous figurative works vacillated between a hot and cool
expressionist content. The psychological impact of these pieces was direct,
yet (literally) detached...as if to suggest a kind of acculturation of the
mind/body split on a hyper-surreal level of existence. ...The same might be
said of her series of detached heads, titled 'Other People's Heads'
exhibited at Metaphor. Here the fiberglas and hydrocal heads are suspended
from wires, presumably hung, but not always, at the actual height of the
subject. [The] heads dangle as an ensemble in the middle of the
room...suggesting another art world....With its moving consideration of the
artist exploring herself and the other, this work is the crux of the matter
that Nina Levy seems intent on deciphering as an artist."
Portrait Gallery
will be on view at the
Aldrich Museum
of Contemporary
Art
June 1 - July 14, 2003
258 Main Street
Ridgefield, Connecticut
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