The Insider: Jonathan LeVine

                                                                           By, Samantha Gilewicz                                                                          

                                                                           March 28, 2007

With a B.A. in Fine Art to back up his love for illustration, graffiti art, and pop surrealism, Jonathan LeVine considers himself an art activist. Which is pretty on point considering the artists that first sparked his interest years ago such as Dalek, Shepard Fairey, Jeff Soto, and Camille Rose Garcia are all now lowbrow luminaries. With both the 16th Annual Swap Meet, a group show of emerging artists, and Dalek’s new exhibition, Desperate, Rejected & Angry, opening this weekend at LeVine’s eponymous Chelsea gallery, Samantha Gilewicz caught up with the discerning eye to talk street art and Space Monkeys…  (Read full article)

Tags of Brazil By MELENA RYZIK
Friday, March 9, 2007 
 
Think you’ve got a handle on New York’s graffiti taggers? Check out Brazil’s street artists at the first major exhibition devoted to them. With the gallery’s walls, floors and ceilings decorated with tripped-out murals and found-art sculpture, the show is “a flamboyant powerhouse” that “looks like a cross between graffiti, tattoo designs, underground comics and Pop art.” And don’t miss the documentary that follows the artist known as Zezão as he searches São Paulo’s sewer systems for the place to make his Sistine Chapel — or at least his 11 Spring Street.

“Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art,” through March 17 at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, ninth floor, (212)243-3822.

Think you’ve got a handle on New York’s graffiti taggers? Check out Brazil’s street artists at the first major exhibition devoted to them. With the gallery’s walls, floors and ceilings decorated with tripped-out murals and found-art sculpture, the show is “a flamboyant powerhouse” that “looks like a cross between graffiti, tattoo designs, underground comics and Pop art.” And don’t miss the documentary that follows the artist known as Zezão as he searches São Paulo’s sewer systems for the place to make his Sistine Chapel — or at least his 11 Spring Street.

“Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art,” through March 17 at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, 529 West 20th Street, ninth floor, (212)243-3822.

Ruas de São Paulo: A Survey of Brazilian Street Art

March 9, 2007

By, Benjamin Genocchio

Brazilian street artists, many of them school dropouts, have long covered the exposed walls and buildings of cities like Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo with their art. Though it is an illegal activity, it is rarely policed, and has flourished as a result. The first major New York gallery exhibition of Brazilian street art, at Jonathan LeVine, is a flamboyant powerhouse: the walls, floors and parts of the ceiling are decorated with a tangle of kaleidoscopic murals in tripped-out colors; rollicking spray-paint works on wood, clothing and canvas; and a surprising diversity of assemblages and sculpture made of found objects. (Read full article)