art_thumbnail_recovered.gif

recovered

Can you read a person beyond the constructed image they carry?

Effigies have been a standard format for picturing personalities in a solemn way. They look timeless and inprint on the viewer an idea of nobility that outlive their subjects. But identities are formed by a constellation of attributes and such a reductive form of portrait - when carried out of its context - may reveal itself flawed, incomplete, unrealistic.

In "Recovered" (2018), the artist vandalizes his own image - sculpted as an effigy - in a process that reveals at the same time it hides. The use of a fragile material, mixed painting techniques and inclusion of timely elements in the bas-reliefs deprives the effigy of a classic aspect, and the emotional implications of working with his own image creates a completely opposite friction. How to separate self­deprecation from honesty? How to distinguish intention from compulsion, desire from addiction? The result is a set of memories of a fraction of a character. Not intended for eternity, but at least for a brief display and appreciation.

art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_acid_tear_eyes.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_acid_smiley.jpg
Memories are not always pleasant and people are not only good. Either ugliness or beauty transcend the intentions of a portrait, and sometimes even hidden in layers of visual information or flesh you will find both.
— Andre Levy
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_clown_tear.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_anonym.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_flower_tattoo.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_tear_censored.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_rainbow_pride_lgbtq_queer_gay.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_thought_empty.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_cartoon_talesyoulose_retro.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_pink_dual.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_pink_doll_skull_inside.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_pink_monster.jpg
art_andre_levy_zhion_recovered_self_portrait_beard_gold_silence.jpg