“So these pieces that I’ve been working on since last fall were heavily influenced by that trip [to Paris], but even more so in the way that the trip changed my perception of the world around me,” JP-based artist Lauren Levine says of New Works, her contribution to Spectrum at UFORGE Gallery (her work pictured above).
Lauren Levine, full piece
For the July exhibition, Spectrum, at UFORGE Gallery, a non-juried, assignment-based art space in Jamaica Plain, participating artists were challenged to use that rainbow of colors seen when light is dispersed through a prism in their works. We spoke with JP-based artist Lauren Levine about New Works, her contribution to Spectrum and the inspiration behind her latest creations.
Could you give a brief run-down of the central themes of the exhibit and your installation?
This is all new work that I’ve been working on, primarily oil and pastel on paper. It’s more derived from the natural world, which has always been an influence on my work in a subtle way, and very much about color, the immediacy of the experience. It’s more direct as opposed to refining the experience overtime on a much larger scale and abstracting it to a greater degree.
What was your inspiration for these works?
A great deal of the inspiration came from my trip last fall to Paris for the first time and getting a chance to see so much of the work that I see in reproductions, Impressionist, primarily. I’ve seen so many of Monet’s water lily reproductions in my lifetime that they became these images you see on bags and posters that everyone loves and you never question why, but they never really moved me.
When I had the chance to finally see them in person I was completely blown away, not just by the scale, but the freedom, colors, textures, and emotional content of them as well.
They were such powerful pieces that they completely blew open my understanding of what painting was then and how it still resonates today.
By Marnie Jain (left) and Maggie Carberry.
When I returned to Boston after a few weeks, I noticed that I was seeing everything so differently.
So these pieces that I’ve been working on since last fall were heavily influenced by that trip, but even more so in the way that the trip changed my perception of the world around me. When I came back, I went apple picking and was completely taken over by the vision of these apples in an orchard and the brilliance of the colors and light, and these pieces began in that experience.
UFORGE GALLERY PRESENTS:
LAUREN LEVINE’S NEW WORKS AND SPECTRUM
SPECTRUM OPEN THROUGH JULY 29
NEW WORKS OPEN 7.19.12-8.8.12
767 CENTRE ST.
JAMAICA PLAIN
617.553.4480
TIMES VARY/ALL AGES/FREE
@UFORGEGALLERY
UFORGEGALLERY.COM
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