ASSEMBLAGE BROS
Peter Fox
Dan Levin
Recent Works
Found Object Sculpture
February 23 - March 25, 2017
Opening Reception
Saturday, February 25, 2017, 5pm to 8pm
ASSEMBLAGE BROS at Gallery 525
What draws one to engage in combining random found objects together to create an assemblage art piece is a curious process. Certainly hanging on to Aunt Mabel’s cast-offs or perusing thrift stores and flea markets for character-infused treasures isn’t for everyone, but for artists Peter Fox and Dan Levin it’s an irresistible passion and a definitive artist’s path.
The ASSEMBLAGE BROS are Peter Fox and Dan Levin and how they ended up “assemblaging” and filling up their studios full of oddities are two different stories. There is an addictive thrill for both to come up with new meanings and associations by combining disparate and incongruous elements. Assemblage is an art form similar to the medium of collage, yet it employs three-dimensional elements. A form of art popular during the Surrrealist and Dada movments, assemblage sparks new connections and meanings in the mind by altering the content and associations of the original objects placed together.
Peter Fox graduated from Harvard with a concentration in Primate Anthropology. According to Mr. Fox, this led him to the jungles of Los Angeles acting in television and movies, producing and directing plays and writing screenplays.” With lots of free time on his hand between gigs, on locations, per diem, visiting junk stores, thrift shops, antique stores, he wound up with a large collection of weird objects. He started to look at these objects and to put them together into what he came to find out was called “assemblage”. This opened his eyes to see the possibility of art in everything.
To quote Mr. Fox:
“Look long and hard enough and the Muse will take over. Work long and hard enough and soon you will find yourself filling your garage, then building a shed out back to store this seemingly endless procession of found objects that found you. It’s child’s play…remember that?”
Friendly lunacy and logic do an odd kind of dance in the assemblage art of Dan Levin > Objects of Curiosity. In his approach to the medium this artist understands that logic, even of a twisted variety, can prevent the appearance of randomness in work that’s all about discarded objects. Despite wild-eyed humor and hints of chaos, Levin’s art has a surprising cohesiveness of design through a series of variations on a particular theme. While his art may startle and amuse the observer, there is a method of the artist’s careful devising. Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1962, raised near New York City and returned to California where he earned a degree in graphic design and fine art in 1984. For over 25 years, he has exhibited in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Australia and France with work in collections from New York City to New Zealand. Having spent four years living in Australia and Europe, the artist now resides in Santa Barbara, exploring nature and fabricating assemblages. According to Dan Levin:
“One man’s trash is another man’s career.”
www.danlevin.com
What draws one to engage in combining random found objects together to create an assemblage art piece is a curious process. Certainly hanging on to Aunt Mabel’s cast-offs or perusing thrift stores and flea markets for character-infused treasures isn’t for everyone, but for artists Peter Fox and Dan Levin it’s an irresistible passion and a definitive artist’s path.
The ASSEMBLAGE BROS are Peter Fox and Dan Levin and how they ended up “assemblaging” and filling up their studios full of oddities are two different stories. There is an addictive thrill for both to come up with new meanings and associations by combining disparate and incongruous elements. Assemblage is an art form similar to the medium of collage, yet it employs three-dimensional elements. A form of art popular during the Surrrealist and Dada movments, assemblage sparks new connections and meanings in the mind by altering the content and associations of the original objects placed together.
Peter Fox graduated from Harvard with a concentration in Primate Anthropology. According to Mr. Fox, this led him to the jungles of Los Angeles acting in television and movies, producing and directing plays and writing screenplays.” With lots of free time on his hand between gigs, on locations, per diem, visiting junk stores, thrift shops, antique stores, he wound up with a large collection of weird objects. He started to look at these objects and to put them together into what he came to find out was called “assemblage”. This opened his eyes to see the possibility of art in everything.
To quote Mr. Fox:
“Look long and hard enough and the Muse will take over. Work long and hard enough and soon you will find yourself filling your garage, then building a shed out back to store this seemingly endless procession of found objects that found you. It’s child’s play…remember that?”
Friendly lunacy and logic do an odd kind of dance in the assemblage art of Dan Levin > Objects of Curiosity. In his approach to the medium this artist understands that logic, even of a twisted variety, can prevent the appearance of randomness in work that’s all about discarded objects. Despite wild-eyed humor and hints of chaos, Levin’s art has a surprising cohesiveness of design through a series of variations on a particular theme. While his art may startle and amuse the observer, there is a method of the artist’s careful devising. Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1962, raised near New York City and returned to California where he earned a degree in graphic design and fine art in 1984. For over 25 years, he has exhibited in Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Australia and France with work in collections from New York City to New Zealand. Having spent four years living in Australia and Europe, the artist now resides in Santa Barbara, exploring nature and fabricating assemblages. According to Dan Levin:
“One man’s trash is another man’s career.”
www.danlevin.com
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