In my earlier college years I was a figurative artist, but
later in upper division and Grad School (both at UCLA) my direction changed
because of influential teachers (Richard Diebenkorn and Adolph Gottlieb) and
friendships (fellow students and Ferus gallery guys in Los Angeles). Later in New
York I became friends with some of my heroes (William De Kooning, Phillip
Guston) and that solidified my position and feeling that Non Objective Art was the
only new and true art form of the 20th century. That belief makes Kandinsky,
Mondrian, Malevich, the first non-objective artists, the great artists of the
20th century.
My art followed that point of view for over thirty years. I worked
with different materials, paint, plastic, wood, sometimes geometrically,
sometimes organically and often a combination of the two. What was consistent was
the non-objective subject matter. Another primary concept was my interest in
combining two dimension and three dimension. My late 1950s paintings were
gestural, thick, dense surfaces which suggested projection and the earth. In the
1960s I painted on flat surfaces and placed the images in a three dimensional
environment e.g. a box. Finally at the end of the 1960s the art became plastic
sculpture using light, sound, and movement. In the 1970s I returned to
painting using shaped plastic and canvas and images which were constructed three
dimensionally. These painted constructions continued thru the 1980s and into the
early 1990s but this time the material was wood.
During the 1990s, on a sabbatical leave I re-evaluated my art and decided to
explore using the computer. The computer seemed the most relevant tool of the
new century. I had painted some large wood pieces that resembled letters in
the early 90s. So, when I started using a computer I took the letter idea and
juxtaposed the letters against organic shapes i.e. A/Apple. I realize I’ve
altered my position on non-objective art but it’s a new century!
I use Painter, Photoshop and “paint” directly on a tablet with a “pen.” Now, I’m continuing with similar subject matter but trying to suggest more abstraction and
isolation, and pattern and decoration. The images seem to work better against a
decorative domestic background. Recently I read an article about the Pattern and
Decoratiion movement which began In the 1970s. At the time I was friendly with
the New York painter Miriam Shapiro who was one of the founders of the Pattern
and Decoration school. And when I wanted to create a background for the images
it felt right to use domestic imagery like carpets. So, I can thank the female
and male artists of that movement who made it OK to use “female” concepts.
Linda Levi
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