Photographer, painter and sculptor Sherrie Levine has long blazed an idiosyncratic path. In reflection of this, Chelsea's David Zwirner gallery is celebrating her latest creative endeavours in an eponymous new show.
Appropriation is key to Levine’s practice – she frequently references 19th and 20th century artists for her art. In fact, she’s photographed Van Gogh paintings from a text on his work, based watercolours on Fernand Léger’s paintings and even turned out cast-glass copies of Brancusi sculptures.
This time, Levine has developed a more unlikely pairing. In doing so, she's also taken cues from a somewhat unconventional source – an ad for SMEG refrigerators plucked from the British magazine The World of Interiors. In this case, Levine sets the scene with four actual SMEG refrigerators in saturated shades of pink and punchy orange. (‘The World of Interiors is my favourite shelter magazine,’ the artist confesses.) In a bizarre juxtaposition, she offers up 12 monochrome paintings after Renoir's Nudes on mahogany, a nod to the very hues found in the iconic 19th century painter’s works. Three paintings and a single refrigerator constitute an individual work.
‘Sherrie looks to Donald Judd when it comes to minimalism and repetition but now she is incorporating found objects which happen to be in a retro style,’ says Larry List, who penned the show catalogue and knows the artist personally. ‘She’s fusing contemporary culture and the notion of impressionism,’ he adds in reference to the Nudes. ‘It’s about pushing the boundaries of painting [and] sculpture as well as both installation and conceptual work.'
But what’s Levine's intent in such an unlikely provocative pairing? ‘I’m hoping some sort of synergy results,’ she has said.
If that's not enough, also on display are works 'after' Joseph Victor Chemin, Walker Evans, Man Ray and, most alluringly, a gleaming beach ball drawing on the work of pop art supremo Roy Lichtenstein.
Appropriation has long been key to Levine’s practice – her oeuvre contains frequent references to 19th and 20th century artists. Pictured: Pink SMEG Refrigerator and Renoir Nudes, 2016
Only this time, Levine has developed a highly unlikely pairing – SMEG fridges and Renoir’s Nudes. Pictured: Pastel Blue SMEG Refrigerator and Renoir Nudes, 2016
Pictured from left: Wild Boar After Chemin, 2016; African Masks After Walker Evans: 1–24, 2014; Beach Ball after Lichtenstein, 2015
Levine’s practice is about ‘pushing the boundaries of painting [and] sculpture as well as both installation and conceptual work’, explains catalogue author Larry List. Pictured: Yellow Moonlight After Man Ray: AP1, 2016
If that’s not enough, consider snapping up her gleaming gold Beach Ball after Lichtenstein, 2015
INFORMATION
‘Sherry Levine’ is on view until 2 April. For more information, visit David Zwirner's website
Photography courtesy David Zwirner, New York
ADDRESS
David Zwirner
537 West 20th Street,
New York, NY 10011
-
Out of office: what the Wallpaper* editors have been doing this weekA taste of the dolce vita in London, some permanent artwork and a new eyeshadow palette – it's our editors' picks of the week
-
Daniel Arsham’s new monograph collates the works of the auto-obsessed American artist‘Arsham Motorsport’ is two volumes of inspiration, process and work, charting artist Daniel Arsham’s oeuvre inspired by the icons and forms of the automotive industry
-
Hollywood Forever's new ‘vertical mausoleum’ is the tallest in the USThe Gower Mausoleum is not only an innovative solution for housing the deceased in a crowded urban centre; it is also reframing the way that we view cemeteries
-
20 years on, ‘The Gates’ makes a digital return to Central ParkThe 2005 installation ‘The Gates’ by Christo and Jeanne-Claude marks its 20th anniversary with a digital comeback, relived through the lens of your phone
-
In ‘The Last Showgirl’, nostalgia is a drug like any otherGia Coppola takes us to Las Vegas after the party has ended in new film starring Pamela Anderson, The Last Showgirl
-
‘American Photography’: centuries-spanning show reveals timely truthsAt the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Europe’s first major survey of American photography reveals the contradictions and complexities that have long defined this world superpower
-
Miami’s new Museum of Sex is a beacon of open discourseThe Miami outpost of the cult New York destination opened last year, and continues its legacy of presenting and celebrating human sexuality
-
Sundance Film Festival 2025: The films we can't wait to watchSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieres
-
What is RedNote? Inside the social media app drawing American users ahead of the US TikTok banDownloads of the Chinese-owned platform have spiked as US users look for an alternative to TikTok, which faces a ban on national security grounds. What is Rednote, and what are the implications of its ascent?
-
Architecture and the new world: The Brutalist reframes the American dreamBrady Corbet’s third feature film, The Brutalist, demonstrates how violence is a building block for ideology
-
Inside Luna Luna: the amusement park designed by artists lands in New York‘Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy’ – featuring rides by Basquiat, Lichtenstein, Hockney, Haring, and Dalí – has opened at The Shed
