News

SCOPE-Miami, Booth E09
NE 1st Avenue @ NE 30th Street, Miami, FL 33127

November 29—December 4, 2011
Tues 11/29, 4—8pm | Wed 11/30—Sat 12/3, 11am—7pm | Sun 12/4, 11am—6pm

NEW YORK, NY (November 1, 2011) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to present new works by artists Aakash Nihalani, Jason DeCaires Taylor, Olek and WK at SCOPE-Miami Contemporary Art Fair, from November 29—December 4, 2011, during Art Basel Miami Beach. Placing a focus on public art for this program, the gallery will present a series of works that highlight a diverse range of distinct styles, cultural perspectives and unconventional mediums. Each of the four artists selected represent fresh directions in creating work in public space through their innovative vision and inventive use of materials. Photography documenting their interventional imagery, sculpture, and performances convey the transformative effect their work has on its surrounding environment.

Aakash Nihalani’s playful geometric shapes and patterns, formed out of tape when applied on the street, are complemented by his aluminum sculptures and video work. Olek’s work mainly consists of wrapping public sculptures, personal objects and performers in a crocheted camouflage pattern. The vibrant fluorescent color palette of Nihalani’s tape and Olek’s acrylic yarn both create striking contrasts against the urban landscape. The graphic black and white imagery of WK’s mixed-media works are layered in textures and elements that re-create the ephemeral experience of encountering his work on the street. Jason DeCaires Taylor infuses his eco-sculptures with biological materials that form artificial reefs, once submerged under the sea. Casting full-scale figures and objects in cement, Taylor’s ambitious public projects have a practical, functional and environmental aspect, rejuvenating habitats for marine life and replenishing natural reefs, an endangered natural resource.    

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Aakash Nihalani was born in 1986 in Queens, New York and is currently based in Brooklyn. In 2008, he received a BFA from Steinhardt School, New York University (NYU). His colorful geometric-based work spans across sculpture, multimedia, interactive video, street interventions and photography.

Jason DeCaires Taylor was born in Great Britain in 1974 and is currently based in Mexico. He worked as a scuba diving instructor and experimented with graffiti before earning a BA in Sculpture and Ceramics from Camberwell College of Art, London in 1997. He learned traditional stone carving techniques at Canterbury Cathedral, and worked in the field of concert set design, producing projects on a grand scale. In 2006, Taylor created the world’s first underwater sculpture park in Grenada, West Indies, which consists of over 65 individual works and covers 2,624 square feet (800 square meters). In 2010, Taylor founded the Museo Subacuático de Arte (MuSA), located in Cancun, Mexico, where he created and installed over 400 life-size figurative underwater works, which occupy an area of 1,640 square feet (500 square meters) and weigh over 200 tons, collectively.

Olek was born in 1978 in Poland. In 2000, she received a Bachelor degree in Cultural Studies from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland, and relocated to New York City, where she is currently based. Olek’s award winning performance and installation work has been exhibited in galleries, museums and public spaces worldwide, and featured in numerous publications. In 2012, Olek’s work will be included in the 40 Under 40 exhibition at the Smithsonian.

WK (aka WK Interact) was born in 1969 in Caen, France. He has lived and worked in New York since 1991. Interested in capturing the body in motion, the artist’s imagery often portrays figures frozen in a flight of movement. WK’s technique of twisting an original drawing or photograph as it’s being photocopied, results in the monochromatic palette and streamlined moment-in-time appearance of his finished work, seen on the streets as well as in the gallery setting.