Jonathan LeVine
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Jonathan LeVine (born 1968) is a New York City art dealer. As of 2008, he owns and operates the Jonathan LeVine Gallery, which is located in the Chelsea area of Manhattan.[1]
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Jonathan LeVine grew up in Trenton, New Jersey. During his teenage years in the early 1980s, he first encountered the art forms that he would spend his adult life championing. Concert posters, punk flyers, underground comics, illustrated zines, graffiti, hot rods, tattoos, and paintings that melded surrealist imagery with a pop art sensibility, shared a countercultural aesthetic which would come to be known as lowbrow. Over the next several years LeVine witnessed a gradual shift in lowbrow from relative obscurity to cult following. During the 1990s, however, east coast gallery representation was rare for these artists, many of whom had already garnered recognition in the streets.
[edit] Independent curator
While attending Montclair State University as a fine arts and sculpture major, LeVine began promoting these art forms by exhibiting them in the veues that were home to their musical counterparts. Beginning in 1995, at the age of twenty-six, he curated art shows at the legendary punk and alternative music havens CBGB in Manhattan and in Hoboken, along with Manhattan nightspots Webster Hall and Max Fish.
By curating art shows there and at Maxwell’s early on, Jonathan LeVine gave a home to this nascent art movement, showing current luminaries including Ron English, Daniel Johnston, Shepard Fairey, Coop, Frank Kozik, Jim Houser, Derek Hess, and many more. As a freelance curator for CBGB, organizing five shows a year, LeVine developed the promotional skills that would inform his future career as an art dealer.
By the late 1990s, the then-quarterly magazine, Juxtapoz, was exposing lowbrow to a wider audience. In 1997, as the director of the Ozone Gallery in Manhattan, LeVine put together the "Lords of the Lowbrow" show featuring Juxtapoz founder Robert Williams, along with Joe Coleman, Gary Panter, Anthony Ausgang, David Sandlin, and Ron English. As these artists grew in popularity, LeVine became their New York channel to collectors.
[edit] Tin Man Alley
In February 2001, LeVine opened his own gallery, Tin Man Alley. First located at 12 Mechanics Street in New Hope, Pennsylvania, it initially sold vintage toys and novelty items to help support the gallery, but soon the business was fully supported by art sales. Thanks to Juxtapoz and the proliferation of images on the internet, LeVine's second show at the New Hope space, "The New Surrealists" in 2001, was a blockbuster featuring Mark Ryden, Eric White, and Joe Sorren. Following this came a solo exhibition for Shag (Josh Agle) with two to four person shows featuring artists such as Glen Barr, Chris Mars, Jeff Soto, Jonathan Weiner and Jim Houser.
In late 2002, LeVine moved Tin Man Alley gallery to 608 N. 2nd Street in Philadelphia, in the city’s Northern Liberties neighborhood. His opening show in Philly featured Jonathan Weiner, Jeff Soto, and Daniel Peacock in an exhibition called “The Uncertainty Principle.” In 2003 and 2004, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Scott Musgrove, Andrew Brandou, and Dalek all had solo shows. Group shows with themes that ranged from Shriners fez imagery to an exhibition guest curated by Jordin Isip gave artists such as Joseph Hart and Will Buzzell important exposure early on in their careers.
[edit] Jonathan LeVine Gallery
In January 2005, Jonathan moved his gallery to Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, a nexus of art gallery. His opening show, "Pop Pluralism", included works by Ray Caesar, the Clayton Brothers, Lori Earley, Camille Rose Garcia, Doze Green, Seonna Hong, MARS-1, and Elizabeth McGrath.
In February 2007, LeVine held a major group show in conjunction with São Paulo's Choque Cultural gallery. Eight Brazilian street and graffiti artists traveled to New York – several for their first trip to the United States - for their exhibition called "Ruas De São Paulo"[2] featuring São Paulo street legends like Zezão, Onesto, Speto, Boleta, Fefê, Kboco, Highraff and Titi Freak. Soon after that, renowned Brazilian artist Vitche had a solo show at the gallery. In December 2007, Jonathan had another international street art show called "The Streets of Europe" featuring artists from France, England, and Italy, including Blek Le Rat, Blu, Bo130, D*Face, Microbo, and Space Invader.
In June 2007, for Shepard Fairey’s solo exhibition "E Pluribus Venom", LeVine used not only his Chelsea space, but also a secondary temporary space in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn. Fairey’s popularity drew a crowd of over two thousand people to the Brooklyn opening, with a line that stretched for blocks. The successful, chaotic event gathered a full, front-page article in the Arts section of The New York Times.[3]
Early the following year, the LeVine Gallery took several of their artists abroad for an exhibition in Brazil called "Made in America", once again collaborating with Choque Cultural Gallery in São Paulo. "Made in America" featured work by eleven of Jonathan’s American artists, four of whom traveled to Brazil to be present for the opening.
