For those who missed it when first edited (beautifully by Anja Strelec) and for those who might enjoy it in English, Nederlands & Francais; here’s my interview with @BRUZZbe online. It will be on Belgian TV at 6pm. Thank you for all your love and friendship, it’s been lots of fun sharing art with you. Cool to see the interview from before the show go out on people’s home screens just before all the paintings go to their new homes.
Check it out Sunday the 22nd Nov (11am online, 6pm on TV). The channel, @BRUZZbe, is on Proximus (15), Telenet (110) and Voo (62).
If you prefer to listen to your podcasts on YouTube here it is!
Hot off the press!
A Brussels-based article about my current art show… and finally a sneak peek to my next one!
Original article here:
Interview by the very charming Iva Galovic
Photos by Iris Haidău & Anja Strelec
IMMENSITIES is on until Oct 10th.
Art Base, 29 rue des Sables, 1000 Bruxelles
Article text here:
‘IMMENSITIES’ – a window to the world by Tamar Levi
- EDITORIAL TEAM
- OCTOBER 4, 2020
- 4 MINUTE READ
The ever-bustling art scene in Brussels is having a come-back after the pandemic and one of the exhibitions not to miss is most definitely ‘IMMENSITIES” by the artist Tamar Levi, up in Art Base (29 rue des Sables Zandstraat, 1000 Bruxelles) until the 10th of October. The collection of around twenty paintings on her travels from Greece to Belgium was painted during the lockdown in Belgium, with the goal to create a window to the world for the viewer and evoke the feeling of freedom. On the occasion of the exhibition and intrigued by Tamar’s life and work, we spoke with the artist who first described to us more how it came to exhibition itself.
‘Due to the pandemic, studio spaces were closed so I painted these twenty canvases during lockdown in my apartment with my family right on top of me. The close quarters inspired a response to the pandemic in my art: I made the landscapes more expansive, and more of an escape view, to create more windows in people’s homes. That’s why the collection is called IMMENSITIES, it’s the big idea of freedom through my painted landscapes, freedom for the viewer’s minds and souls to expand into wide open spaces.’
And indeed, when you look at the pieces in the exhibition, you have this feeling of expansion and freedom, achieved not only by the lines of the strokes but also the fact that the painting doesn’t end with a frame – it flows over it and includes it in itself, breaking all the boundaries and creating a unique sculptural depth for the viewer.
‘My original idea of painting on the frame aims to draw the viewer into the scene, in a sculptural way. This provides the art collector with immediacy for hanging. The bespoke frames provide deep dimensionality. This allows the viewer to step into a scene. Another window for their home.’
And to make this new window view as beautiful as possible, Tamar spent a lot of time carefully choosing the right frames for the paintings to have the perfect match.
‘To prepare for this collection I hunted for the biggest and most beautiful antique frames from markets and auction houses in Athens, Greece and Brussels, Belgium. Then I affixed and painted both canvases and frame simultaneously.’
Tamar is already known to the Brussels audience through her several solo exhibitions and illustrations of books for children, with this exhibition being special for her as it build ups on all the work so far. Having always done drawings in her sketchbook and later illustrations for children’s books, she was now able to go back to those sketchbooks and find the original ideas behind the shapes for this painting collection.
‘I have always done drawings I normally illustrate in pen and ink in a minimalist zen continuous line style, however this collection is unusual for me; it was created with a bespoke mix of bright colours. I think of it as being in the Fauvist tradition of colour practice. These were worked on for months in colour theory research and applied as mixed media with oil pastels to create a cohesion in the collection and a sense of many dimensions in the image. The oil pastel on top of acrylic creates a link between my illustration work and my painting work.’
Growing up in Alaska, Tamar never expected to be based at the heart of European politics. She fell in love with a Greek man, whose career brought them here and then she fell in love with the city as well, with Brussels parks being now one of her main motifs.
‘I just cannot stop painting these parks. Is it some kind of secret that Brussels has over seventy parks and they are gorgeous and characterful and joyous too?’
But Tamar’s fascination with Brussels doesn’t stop there. She sees Brussels as a buffet of nature and culture, exploring the city, museums and all aspects of art.
‘So far I have been exploring the comic book culture, which fits right in with my previous work and current graphic novel project. But I haven’t even started the adventure of discovering the dance culture, which I’m told is a very rich treasure here. I’m sure the talent on the dance scene will inspire some dance-related series of paintings…’
These are just some of the things that inspire this talented and energetic artist whose drive to create keeps moving her forward at all times, so we were very excited to hear about her upcoming projects and exhibitions.
‘My continuous line portraits of women, which were displayed with the European Parliament’s Feminist Forum, will be on exhibit again, this time at the upcoming TEDx conference here in Brussels. I’m really excited to share these portraits with a wider audience. Also, there’s this graphic novel I’ve been working on for 15 years now which I’m illustrating all in one line (but it has to be the right line!). Two years ago I performed the first chapter, all in one line, with live music to accompany the performance art, and so perhaps it’s time to work on the second chapter’s live performance?’
In the near future, Tamar will also start artistic workshops which we are sure will be a success. And if you would like to meet the artist, visit the gallery this Sunday, 4 October, between 2 and 6 pm and have a first-hand experience, enjoying the views Tamar created.
Interview by Iva Galovic. You can follow Iva on instagram for more interesting Brussels stories.
What’s your main style?
I have two styles of drawing: in colour, I take a felt tip marker approach. In black and white, it’s pen and inking all the way.
No, not what tools, what style?
Well, I most enjoy drawing an entire portrait in one line. One single permanent pen and ink line. No pencils. No erasers. No mistakes. I just let go and allow the fluid motion of the ink to mirror the motion in the shape of the form.
Picasso made a series of single line drawings. Klee called drawing “taking a line for a walk.” Steinberg explored the properties of the single line too.
Are your single line drawings just like Picasso’s?
I’m not sure if Picasso did it this way, but I try not to look at the paper, almost entirely at the model or scene.
Do you know of any others who specialise this way?
No. I’ve never heard of it.
Well if you do, please let me know. I’m talking to curators about pulling together a small gallery of pieces that work within the method. Plus, I’m working really hard on trying to say no to illustration projects that want me to work in any other style. It’s hard to say no when you’re an early career illustrator, but it’s the core of my current pet project so I kind of want to make it my sole focus at the moment.
What’s the project?
I aim to illustrate my graphic novel, Delphi, entirely in one line. One pen and ink blind contour continuous single line that journeys through the whole book. If I can gather together my talented musician and animation friends I might just be able to make this thing an all singing all dancing kind of event.
How far along are you?
The graphic novel manuscript is researched, written and edited. The images and characterisation are developed and collated. The musicians and animators are on board. Final step: illustrate it. And I’m so excited! Looking back at old sketchbooks I’m realising now, it looks like it just might be my default illustration style. Do you know what I mean by that? Like, your default dance move. One motion that you use to connect to the scene around you. Then you build up from there. Maybe in comedy they’d be called one liners. Maybe in art my drawings should be called one liners too!
***
I thought I’d put this informal interview up on my blog to signpost my interest in the style to the wide world of webbers. I’m writing here in the hope the internet will help ask around to see if anyone else is working in this style.
So anyone out there drawing their own one liners please do send me jpegs of your work via the contact page on my website and I’ll put them up, credit the illustrator and link to their contact pages. Hopefully, if investment follows through, you’ll be on speed dial to hang your framed pieces somewhere pretty too. I admire every artist exercising this continuous line method. There’s something steadying about the confidence it takes. Something cathartic about both the continuity and the completed circle. I think the world would do well to have a lovely little gallery that takes them on a cathartic journey, in one line.
-T-
