Artist Statement
Swim
The Swim series is about the vernacular dance and choreography inherent in the quotidian experience of swimming. In the work I am looking at the choreography of the individual when his/her weight is lifted by the water. Each person’s body responds to the freedom of weightlessness in the water environment in a unique way. This is what fascinates me when observing ordinary people in the water. Later, when composing the pieces, I look for patterns of movement and rhythms that speak about how the subjects, who become my “dancers,” relate to each other in the overall choreography of the scene. I construct specific patterns of movement across the space of the photograph. I’m interested in how each dancer’s movements lead into, compliment, contrast, and punctuate the movements of the other.
The works are constructed using the grid or rectilinear shape as a point of departure. Within the confines of this rigid geometry I look for the organic rhythms of the water and the “dancers” to emerge. I enjoy working within this contradictory space where the unyielding geometric structure contrasts the fluidity of the water and the bodies.
Gallery
About
Lisa Levine is an artist who, in recent years, has been working in the area of public art, creating large scale commissioned artworks for public spaces through her company Counterpoint Studio. She has been commissioned to create works for university campuses, hospitals, public transit, recreational facilities as well as private architectural projects and corporate art commissions.
Lisa Levine’s personal work has been widely exhibited and collected. Her photo-based artworks reside in numerous corporate and public art collections, including the Alameda County Art Commission, Berkeley Civic Arts Center, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and the Brower Center. She is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City (BFA) and the City University of New York, Brooklyn College (MFA). Her work is represented by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Artists Gallery, Slate Gallery, Danielle Wohl Fine Art, and the Kala Institute Art Gallery.
Recently retired from teaching photography at California State University East Bay for more than a decade, she currently teaches in the MFA program at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.