Mark Levin

I create with solid hardwoods for their intrinsic value, virility, and rapidity of execution. The grain and beauty of the wood have little influence during the initial design process. He visualizes new work in matte black and believes that if a piece has a presence draped in black, is executed with deftness and passion, then the inner beauty of the wood will shine forth.

Much of my work is built using the stack lamination process, in which smaller pieces of wood are glued together to form much larger blocks, or “blanks”. The stack lamination process provides strength, scale, and endless artistic possibilities. Once the blank is completed, he roughs out the work with chainsaws and automobile disk grinders. As the final form emerges, I taper to more delicate power tools and finally hand tools to define the details and sumptuous curves.

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“Mark Levin creates masterful wood sculpture and artful furniture. A sublime elegance permeates his creations, for which he combines elements of aesthetic beauty with purposeful meaning, form, and function.

Mark’s works of art simulate the forms we observe in nature and in human anatomy. The absence of acute right angles that exist in most functional wood pieces is replaced by sensuous organic curves, smooth contours, and curvatures. These soothing qualities bring a continuous sense of fluidity and movement. Such visual attributes emanate harmony, continuity, and renewal.

As a contemporary artist, Mark is positioned among major Modernist predecessors, such as Wendell Castle, who blurred the lines between art and design. His art alters our perspective about the choices we make for art and practical items in our homes and places of business. We may envision enhancing our lives with his beautiful, healing, and functional works of art.”

Renee Philips, Director and Curator, Manhattan Arts International