{"id":22881,"date":"2014-10-10T09:44:09","date_gmt":"2014-10-10T14:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/?p=22881"},"modified":"2014-10-10T23:07:17","modified_gmt":"2014-10-11T04:07:17","slug":"levi-haske-greenpoint-open-studios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/the-bomb\/2014\/10\/10\/levi-haske-greenpoint-open-studios\/","title":{"rendered":"~LEVI HASKE . . GREENPOINT OPEN STUDIOS"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\nLEVI HASKE in his studio, with his work behind him – Greenpoint Open Studio Weekend, BROOKLYN, NYC.
\nOCT 4-5, 2014.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nLEVI HASKE’S works, acrylic paint on plywood, were (relatively) small in scale, but a had large generous feeling.
\nalthough non-objective, and without repeated patterns either – some of them did have a atmospheric landscape narrative, one could get lost in, if one wanted to visually ‘travel’, ‘trip’ or . . ‘dream’.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\njust so you can get a sense of the scale of the works . . Levi’s studio was longer and more on the narrow side.
\nthat’s a slice of NICHOLAS STEINDORF, at the right – in this slice of a studio, slice of a photo.<\/p>\n

NICHOLAS STEINDORF was artlovers’ tour conductor \/ curator for the weekend, where an overwhelming number of artists had generously thrown open their studios to the public, and they did indeed attract quite a good crowd on both days. I found it really interesting that Nicholas brought forward just 2 studios for us focus on, well, time was also a factor – those of JAENA KWON and LEVI HASKE. and now at Levi’s studio, I realized he had also set up a small sub-text: non-objective works on wood, where the painted surface was the main focal point, muted tones ruled – and the ‘shape’ of the wood was just as important – as the manipulated, almost waxy, painted surfaces – in both cases. though the 2 artists’ works – couldn’t be further apart . . on all other (over-all) factors. <\/p>\n

if pressed, I would say, in a nutshell: Jaena’s work was more sculptural, often large scale and that a sense of craftsmanship and patina – was a big part of the ‘experience’. Levi’s work on the other hand was more atmospheric and compact – it brought the viewer a dreamy narrative that was both inward and outward, a pictorial fluctuation, rather than a tactile sculptural state, even though his work did also depend on (sculptural) cut-out wood, which made the perceived contrast even more interesting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nLevi’s ‘wall works’ were flat cut-outs, almost like puzzle pieces. some of which contained inner “negative” or open spaces, as part of the composition.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nmuted color was key. but true tonal contrasts were in play – though they were soft and organic. reminded me of late stage Turner sky scapes. Jaena’s work also had color as a key element – but Levi’s were ‘colorful’ in contrast to her minimalist surface-of-a-polished-rock sensibility. having just come from Jaena’s studio made it much more easier to appreciate what was going down in both artist’s works.
\nthanks, Nicholas !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\na larger and more ‘colorful’ work by LEVI, with more complex sculptural wooden elements worked into the dynamic . . very Turner-esque pushed to the 21st Century, or what ? <\/p>\n

or maybe that’s a riff on the American landscape painters, you know, a Hudson Valley School of painters type sunset ? anyways, I was thinking, that pink and blue is a classic early American quilt \/ needle arts color combo – esp of the folk art of the North East, the earliest colonists. if you have ever stopped to watch a sunset over NYC, even today – you know why !!
\npink and blue – just like this. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nlooking around his studio, a work in progress !!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nalso looking around the Levi Haske studio, photographer PIPPA DRUMMOND.
\nLevi’s studio got great natural light flooding in from that one key window.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nbut wait a minute.
\nI knew it !! – American folk art was indeed a part of the larger picture in Levi’s work !!
\nthis was indeed, as Levi told me, a pastel transfer he had made, and re-colored !! of an early 19th century American hand-embroidered coverlet.<\/p>\n

the most striking detail \/ clue which immediately gave away its origins, was that the corner blocks at the very top and bottom edge of the borders – were inverted. the right side block reads correctly, look at the eagle – while the left side images were like . . reversed stencils.
\nand that’s – that’s just what they were. <\/p>\n

early American folk artists, esp quilters, or in this case a coverlet embroidery mistress – were very aware of ‘hubris’. one can take pride in one’s handiwork, but not<\/em> too much.
\nPRIDE COMES BEFORE THE FALL.
\neven the very skilled . . must bow humble in the presence of the larger maker of the Universe, God. the father of all. the Puritans, the Colonists, onto the Amish, etc – retained this respect and reverence by deliberately making a ‘mistake’ in their patterns – it was their way of stating and reminding all who viewed their work – that man was not perfect, or alone. that there was a higher power. religious expression \/ experience was the center of their life experience as they lived it, in all ways and being. <\/p>\n

you’ll also note, the maker’s initials, ‘E.E.’ – are stitched into the bottom left border ‘hubris’ inverted pattern block. ‘E.E.’ whoever she was, though proud enough of her work to ‘sign it’ was well aware that . . tis better to be humble in the face of God, and the greater universe \/ creation. she was happy to have made this piece, and to put her name, her initials on it – but she brought her ‘respectful’ world view to the process.<\/p>\n

the stencil block ‘inversion’ or ‘mistake’ – that is, a deliberate skip in the pattern, has roots in all handiwork, but esp weaving, going all way back – in all cultures through-out the world, where a small slip in concentration, that one could not go back and fix – did not ruin the piece – but was said to be placed there – by the very hand of God. a mistake was a sign of God. and that we are only human. so a work with a mistake came to be seen as very special, blessed, as opposed to driving the weavers to endless frustration. as there is always a slip of the hand.<\/p>\n

HUBRIS . . is a very interesting concept, esp for governments as a whole, to ponder.
\nas concerns military superiority supposedly based on advanced technology.
\nas in advanced \/ sophisticated American & European medical superiority vs ‘backwards’ Africa and a tiny little virus running rampant in the age of globalization. <\/p>\n

yep, all ‘quilters’ and hand-stitchers, (just like bloggers in some big sense too), contemplate<\/strong> their world, as they stitch away those endless hours. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nalthough the work says ‘DELHI’ (1847) in the right-hand bottom block, that might NOT be the local\/place of origin, though it well could be .. but it also likely refers to the coverlet’s ‘format pattern’ which was derived from: Jacquard all-over pattern – repeating . . weaving.
\napparently back in the day, the early 1800s – a skilled Scottish JACQUARD weaver settled in DELHI, NY.
\nthis pattern is based on Jacquard over-all effects.
\nsee: DELHI<\/a><\/p>\n

though, changing<\/strong> the colors of the coverlet as LEVI HASKE has done, makes a . . very big big difference. in the content, re a contemporary art piece vs. the original. and in fact, even in real time \/ technical \/ digital formats. if you try to google-image the work – you see that google-image is solely based on color !!<\/strong> and you can get no further historically, than to pull up other images with the same ombre shades of blue !!
\ngoogle-image is not subject matter – oriented. damn. and hard to believe.<\/p>\n

the exact historical nature of this quilt is therefore not ‘fingertip’ easy to find, and – as well by changing the original colors, which would have been key to its meaning, Levi has transformed it.
\nfor example, red and green would signify a Christmas quilt, etc. etc. pink is for (marital) engagement, yellow for happy and sunny . . red is sometimes a signifier for: danger.<\/p>\n

just looking at the coverlet, and being influenced by the way it’s color scheme is ‘leaning’ now, which might be deceiving, but still . . I would take a leap of faith and imagine this quilt might be a ‘death’ or ‘bereavement’ coverlet. witness the somber tree of life, witness the somberness of the pattern as a whole. perhaps those birds, unlike the eagles in the end blocks – are crows or ravens, early folk art symbols of earthly ties to the dead.
\nsee: CROW POEM<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nbut at the end, there is renewal.
\nthe pineapple stands for hospitality, and thus . . rooted in home, and family – the circle of life, goes on.
\njust like the seasons. let the circle be unbroken.<\/p>\n

hubris, death and the eternal circle . . the tree of life. I’m on it.
\nfolk art.
\ncount me – in.
\nit struck me as as very ironic – how a visit to see cutting edge new work in Greenpoint – esp of a very abstract nature – had brought me back to my – quilt-maker ways.<\/p>\n

something about a pineapple (open studios – !!) and . . the circle of life.<\/p>\n

and I do mean circle of life,
\nquilting, and all. <\/p>\n

PHOTOS: NANCY SMITH. OCT 5, 2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LEVI HASKE in his studio, with his work behind him – Greenpoint Open Studio Weekend, BROOKLYN, NYC. OCT 4-5, 2014. LEVI HASKE’S works, acrylic paint on plywood, were (relatively) small in scale, but a had large generous feeling. although non-objective, and without repeated patterns either – some of them did have a atmospheric landscape narrative, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22881"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22889,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22881\/revisions\/22889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artloversnewyork.com\/zine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}