Scope-Miami 2009
Scope Contemporary Art Fair
December 2, 2009
through December 6, 2009
Jonathan LeVine Gallery is pleased to announce our program for SCOPE-Miami 2009.
SCOPE International Contemporary Art Fair
Soho Studios | 2136 1st Avenue (entrance @NW 21st Street) Miami, FL
http://scope-art.com
Jonathan LeVine Gallery — BOOTH 100—will be exhibiting new works by:
AJ Fosik, James Jean, Jeff Soto, and Stephan Doitschinoff (aka Calma)
Also, a large bronze by Scott Musgrove will debut in the fair's sculpture garden. The piece is called: The Great Lesser PlantSampler (Extinct ~ ca. 1877) which depicts a life-size PlantSampler in it’s natural habitat. The sculpture stands approximately 6ft tall, the PlantSampler itself is almost 6ft from nose-to-tail. This is the first of 3 new bronze sculptures by Musgrove, all depicting extinct (and fictitious) animal species. The bronzes are cast at Metalphysic Studios in Tucson, AZ.
Additionally, a special exhibition within the fair called Chimera curated by David Hunt (Director of SCOPE's curatorial committee) will feature new large-scale paintings by three of the gallery's represented artists: Doze Green, Jeff Soto, and Stephan Doitschinoff (aka Calma).
Jonathan LeVine Gallery's program at SCOPE-Miami this year includes a total of six represented artists :
AJ Fosik
Doze Green
James Jean
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Jeff Soto
Scott Musgrove
Stephan Doitschinoff
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SCOPE Art Show presents: CHIMERA
Curated by David Hunt
Featuring work by: Pedro Barbeito, Melissa Brown, Stephan Doitschinoff (aka CALMA), Doze Green, Luis Macias, Christof Mascher, Fernando Mastrangelo, Dave McDermott, Ted O'Sullivan, Jeff Soto, Christoph Steinmeyer, Ouattara Watts, Andrzej Zielinski, Kevin Zucker.
From the Greek meaning "she-goat" the Chimera is a fire-breathing creature that has the body of a goat, the head of a lion and the tail of a serpent. Some sources have represented the Chimera with three heads (a lion's head as the main, a goat's head sprouting from its back, and a serpent's head on its tail), but the popular myth tells of a single, fire-vomiting head. The very unlikely aspect of the chimera has gradually turned its name into a synonym for a vain dream or an impossible or foolish fantasy.
She was of divine race, not of men, in the fore part a lion, in the hinder a serpent, and in the middle a goat, breathing forth in terrible manner the force of blazing fire. And Bellerophon slew her, trusting the signs of the gods.
—Homer, The Iliad
The Chimera who breathed raging fire, a creature fearful, great, swift footed and strong, who had three heads, one of grim-eyed lion, another of a goat, and another of a serpent. In her forepart she was a lion; in her hinder part a dragon; and in her middle part, a goat, breathing forth a fearful blast of blazing fire. Her did Pegasus and noble Bellerophon slay.
—Hesiod, Theogony
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ABOUT THE ARTISTS
AJ Fosik received a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design in New York. His artwork explores the powerful medium of language and metaphor to emphasize narrative and interpretation. Using wood and found materials, he creates figural, eclectic and intricately designed three-dimensional pieces that intrigue and provoke. Fosik’s animal subjects and anthropomorphized beings are built using a complex process in which each form is carefully handcrafted by arranging hundreds of pieces of individually cut and varnished wood, which the artist paints in vibrant colors and patterns. Sharp teeth, claws, and eyes emerge once the creatures are completed—either constructed as freestanding forms or wall-mounted pieces, referencing modern taxidermy practices. Evocative of American Folk Art, the work is often inspired by subversive cultural influences that shift complacency. Fosik creates work which suspends comfort with the appeal of familiar symbols and images. In this dynamic tension, the art and the viewer come together in an expanded definition of culture and assumption.
Doze Green speaks in a unique creative voice from the collective consciousness, applying a symbolist approach to metaphysical concepts. A New York City native, and often compared to Basquiat, his urban background and involvement in the early hip-hop/graffiti movement of NYC in the late 70’s, early 80’s as one of the original members of the Rock Steady Crew, led him to transition from creating art in the streets and subways into the gallery setting. Green’s signature aesthetic combines stylized letterforms and figurative abstraction—using an array of mediums such as ink, gouache, and metallic pigments with an evolved, organic cubist quality to his high-contrast fluid line work. The artist’s genealogy inspires many of the themes explored therein, influenced by ancient civilizations and indigenous cultures, including his own Afro-Caribbean roots. Green’s totem-like human and animal figures are often conceptually based on various polytheistic deities. These divinities represent sentinels, the guardians of universal truths, immortal warriors warning mankind of the dangers contemporary society has manifested, looming on the horizon and threatening to destroy us.
James Jean is a Taiwanese-American fine artist and illustrator, educated at the School of Visual Arts in New York, and currently based in Los Angeles. Born in 1979, the talented young artist has already achieved a remarkable level of accomplishment. In a ceaseless torrent of images, his finely wrought and narrative-driven work has captured the attention of a worldwide audience including the admiration of other artists, as well as designers, and filmmakers. Jean’s captivating paintings evoke a sense of fantasy and the subconscious, seductive in their delicacy and sensuality. Renowned for his draftsmanship and imagination, Jean’s highly acclaimed and award-winning artwork has been featured in print, fabric, large-scale installations, and animation. The artist has published multiple books on his constantly evolving creative process and technique. His influences include various sources such as Japanese Woodblock prints, Northern Renaissance paintings and etchings, Chinese scroll paintings, Shanghai advertising posters, comics, anatomical charts, and vintage printed ephemera.
Jeff Soto communicates profound visions and fears, nostalgia of his youth, as well as themes of love, lust, and hope. Soto’s distinct color palette, subject matter, technique and bold themes resonate with a growing audience. Inspired by childhood toys, the colorful lifestyle of skateboarding and graffiti, hip-hop and popular culture, his representational work is simultaneously accessible and stimulating. Soto creates visual mythologies with his ominous, quasi-divine apparitions, whose organic tendrils writhe from the cavities of their smoking, robotic shells and whose lumbering frames preside over sprawling urban landscapes. Dramatic lighting, textural richness and a sophisticated palette are his hallmarks. His sculptural sensibility and improvisational, grafitti-informed method of working is often showcased through his magnificent wall cluster installations, which are an amalgam of disjointed storytelling and playful formalism. In 2002, Soto graduated with Distinction from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. In 2008, his work was the subject of an exhibition at the Riverside Art Museum. He has published multiple books on his artwork and currently resides in Southern California, with his wife Jennifer and two daughters.
Scott Musgrove currently lives in Seattle, Washington. His influences include historical artists such as Hudson River School painters Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt and Thomas Moran, as well as naturalist artists including John James Audubon. Musgrove’s unique style of figural work carries environmental themes, depicting whimsical, extinct (and fictitious) animal species. The artist’s paintings and sculptures have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the United States and Europe. His new book The Late Fauna of Early North America features lush, highly detailed landscapes and close encounters with many of his strange and beautiful creatures. Musgrove’s carved wooden sculptures, oil paintings, watercolors, ink drawings, and pencil renderings from the field are further complemented by fine details including antique frames and custom gold engraved nameplates to label and identify his specimens.
Stephan Doitschinoff—the Brazilian street artist also known as Calma—creates a unique visual language and style by embracing his eclectic influences. Themes in his paintings and murals are inspired by an informed spiritual history and heritage, filtered through a distinctly urban point of view. The resulting imagery is rich in religious symbolism, often accompanied by Latin text as well as pichação (a style of graffiti writing, native to São Paolo). His work explores the rich history of Brazilian folklore and the syncretism between Christian theology and African spiritual traditions. As the son of an Evangelical minister, Stephan spent his entire childhood absorbing the visual vocabulary of religious art. As an artist, he has developed imagery which creatively combines Afro-Brazilian folklore with Baroque religious iconography, as well as Alchemic and Pagan symbolism. Stephan’s street alias, Calma (Portuguese for: Calm) is also a shortened version of con alma (Latin for: with soul). The artist says: “I personally see the church as an archaic institution that always aimed to control the masses. I think it is an appropriate symbol for corrupt modern institutions like big corporations, media channels, and governments.”
From 2005 to 2008, Stephan traveled throughout the Brazilian countryside of Bahia, painting murals on adobe houses, chapels and even a cemetery. In the small village of Lençóis, he collaborated with local artisans. Visuals from the trip are documented in his 2008 book, Calma: The Art of Stephan Doitschinoff, and are also the subject of a short documentary film, called: TEMPORAL. To watch the film, please click HERE.
Jonathan LeVine Gallery