{"id":82953,"date":"2024-06-30T07:49:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T14:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=82953"},"modified":"2025-03-16T21:20:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T04:20:06","slug":"randee-levine-embraces-the-unexpected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/randee-levine-embraces-the-unexpected\/","title":{"rendered":"Randee Levine Embraces the Unexpected"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Randee Levine, “Chinese Lanterns & Cherries,” mixed media, 30 x 30 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

At first glance, it seems the key to poignant feeling in art is simplicity. Surely Randee Levine\u2019s \u201cEmpty Vessels,\u201d one of 18 mixed-media impressions now at Phillips, could hardly be more simple or more striking. Two monochrome items of tableware, perhaps a cruet and a small bowl or handleless pitcher, appear framed as in a niche. They\u2019re drawn in brown chalk or crayon on a yellow form that frames and fills them in. But as the details are enumerated, it becomes apparent they\u2019re not so simple after all. The yellow picks up again, outside the black frame, while the blue interior contrasts with the vessels\u2019 color zones, which they meet in the only clear lines among blending hues.<\/h4>\n

Levine describes the interaction of color, perfected here in the blue niche and yellow vessels, as having fascinated her throughout her career. Subject matter and the process by which the artist turns it into content are natural allies, though routinely sundered in modern art, but Levine has chosen to focus on their interaction, much as she does with color, and use both to explore another form of interaction between, as she puts it, \u201cdetermining things and letting things happen.\u201d<\/h4>\n
\"Minimalist<\/a>

Randee Levine, “Empty Vessels,” mixed media, 30 x 30 in.<\/p><\/div>\n

It is, of course, impossible to tell when an artist does something deliberately and when she allows it to \u201cjust happen.\u201d Jackson Pollock was supposed to have let the paint drip, but any discerning viewer will have seen that it drips pretty much where he means it to. Likewise, Levine is in control of her brush and her colors. Still, it seems unlikely that she can fully anticipate what will happen when she puts this color next to that one. A painter in a different mood might well scrape one off if he doesn\u2019t like the result, and presumably what this one means is that how she judges each step determines the next forward step, and not a retreat. Literary readers may note a parallel to the celebrated Argentine novelist C\u00e9sar Aira, who does not rewrite, but instead resumes each writing session from precisely where he left off.<\/h4>\n

These mixed-media works, as Levine describes them, seem to naturally tend towards autobiography, or at least memoir. That is, they seem to record if not the painter\u2019s life, at least what passes before her eyes: \u201cCommunity Garden\u201d and \u201cLunch at the Coast\u201d could be either. Both \u201cChinese Lanterns & Cherries\u201d and \u201cOranges and Wine\u201d actually depict not the named objects, but paintings of them still on the easel\u2014what might be termed meta-paintings. \u201cLife on Campus\u201d could be psychological portraiture, or just a campus map. Names abound: Bibbi, Brunelli, Sylvia, Lilith. So do hints about what was going on during the painting: \u201cResponding to Light\u201d and \u201cTrans-Plants.\u201d The titles have in common that they feel more like verbs, words of action, than names of things.<\/h4>\n

In conclusion, at least for now, while the description of her intention could very well be a formula for some very hard work, it doesn\u2019t preclude pleasure as an operating principle. Indeed, it seems quite possible that Randee Levine\u2019s secret may be that she is that artist, perhaps a member of a larger group than we know, who is having fun in her work. Maybe, “I paint what I like, and I like what I paint.” Here\u2019s wishing it\u2019s so.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
\"Abstract<\/a>

Randee Levine, “Responding To Light,” mixed media, 30 x 24 in.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At first glance, it seems the key to poignant feeling in art is simplicity. Surely Randee Levine\u2019s \u201cEmpty Vessels,\u201d one of 18 mixed-media impressions now at Phillips, could hardly be more simple or more striking. Two monochrome items of tableware, perhaps a cruet and a small bowl or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":847,"featured_media":82956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,14],"tags":[157,2710],"class_list":["post-82953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition_reviews","category-visual_arts","tag-phillips-gallery","tag-randee-levine"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/chinese-lanterns-and-cherries30x30-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 08:32:49","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/847"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91289,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82953\/revisions\/91289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}