STACY LEVY

Stacy Levy (b. 1960, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) attended the Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (MFA 1991); Skowhegan School of Painting, Maine (1988); Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut (BA 1984); and the Architectural Association, London, England (1981). Though her degrees are in sculpture, Levy has trained in forestry, environmental science, and landscape architecture. Invited to exhibit at Documenta 11 in Kassel, Germany (2002); she has also received many public art commissions, and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions. Levy lives and works in Philadelphia.

"The twentieth century has employed the scientist as the translator of nature. Yet science uses a limited vocabulary to understand the world around us, and it is often in a language of separation rather than integration. It frequently neglects the presence of the viewer in its focus. The very nature of scientific analysis eliminates the subjective experience in favor of objective data. Art has a freer tongue and many languages at its disposal. Without a debt to empirical positivism, art can bind the separate views of science and culture to formulate another way of picturing the earth, in which the viewers are both seeing the natural world and are aware of their part in it at the same time.
        My installations investigate aspects of the natural processes which make each site as we know it. Bringing the wind indoors to blow across a compass of 1000 flags, mapping a river with waters from its tributaries and collecting the summer's rainfall are all sculptural inventions which make the invisible forces of nature more salient to the viewer. In my work I attempt to re-explain the scientific explanation of natural systems by redefining their visual components. Meshing the clarity of diagrams and accessibility of maps with the more visceral sense of the site, I try to create an instant of wonder and understanding for the viewer."

Stacy Levy Mold Garden, 1999-2002 Sandblasted glass, agar and mold spores Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania     Stacy Levy Watercourse, 1996 Collected water, plastic cups and vinyl letters Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania     Stacy Levy Leaf Tally, 1994 Sandblasted glass and shelf with forged-steel brackets Dimensions variable Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Stacy Levy
Urban Oldfield: Diagram of a Vacant
Lot (detail), 1998
Steel, paper, leather, rubber, mylar,
vinyl, plastic, copper, bee's wax,
particle board and sound
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker
Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 
 

Stacy Levy
Sea Column (detail), 2002
Silkscreen on clear acrylic
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker
Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
 
 

Stacy Levy
Water Sets (detail decanter for
Pond Set), 1996
Sandblasted glass, steel brackets,
glass shelf and water
Dimensions variable
Courtesy of the artist and Larry Becker
Contemporary Art, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania

Dante Marioni »»