David Lefkowitz
David Lefkowitz grew up in Nashville, Tennessee, where, while in high school, he first studied painting with Vanderbilt Professor Emerita Marilyn Murphy. In the early 80’s he was a founding member of the quasi- legendary pop combo The Young Nashvillians. He earned a B.A. from Carleton College in Northfield, MN in 1985, and after a three-year stint as assistant exhibit preparator at Cheekwood, returned to school for a M.F.A. in Visual Art from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1990. He has been teaching painting and drawing at Carleton, his undergraduate alma mater, since 1997. Recent solo exhibits include “Austerity Plans” at the Soo Visual Art Center in Minneapolis, “Other Positioning Systems" at the Rochester (MN) Art Center, and gallery shows in New York and Chicago. Lefkowitz counts among his honors two McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowships, a National Endowment for the Arts/Arts Midwest grant, a Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship, and a Carleton Distinguished Alumni Award. His work is represented in several collections, including the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, the Langen Foundation in Neuss, Germany, and the Perez Art Museum in Miami.
STATEMENT
David Lefkowitz is represented in The Professors by work from three signature series - Tangle, Corrugated Drawings and Pictures of Common Detritus.
Tangle
The paintings in the Tangle series feature plant forms, painted in a style reminiscent of 19th century botanical illustration or floral paintings by artist like Martin Johnson Heade, entangled with a chaotic assortment of cables and wires. These stand-ins for the natural world and the human-built infrastructure awkwardly co-habit the same space. In many of the paintings, as in the biotechnologically “enhanced” world in which we live, it is difficult to tell where nature stops and human engineering begins. Many of the depicted plants are considered weeds, and the compositions suggest uncontrolled random growth.
Corrugated Drawings
The Facilities and 1705 E. Roscoe are examples from a series of watercolor drawings on corrugated cardboard that depict structures that read simultaneously as abstract geometric forms, literal renderings of stacks of cardboard boxes and architectural plans.
The idealized “plans” refer to the utopian project of modernist architecture- the assertion of a universal language of form, and yet, they also imply more pedestrian but utterly practical approaches to constructing shelter, as they suggest alternative uses of a readily available waste product of consumer culture- cardboard. The makeshift dwellings depicted hint at two poles of adaptive re-use. One, an architecture of possibility- children’s forts- the cardboard box as basic unit for play and invention, and two, an architecture of necessity: the cardboard box as rudimentary shelter for the least well-off.
Pictures of Common Detritus
Pictures of Common Detritus are a series of very small still life paintings of very small objects usually displayed in a gallery scaled for regular-sized paintings.
“Lefkowitz plays with the inversion of scale and status in “Pictures of Common Detritus” (2000/2009), a series of small, though life-size oil portraits of found bits of trash and debris. Framed in prefabricated ornate golden frames, purchased from a local hobby shop, each tiny painting is a detailed study of the chosen figure: small clumps of dust or plaster, lint, pencil shavings, a wad of chewed gum, a lone Cheerio, a twist tie, a dead fly. They are painted with dramatic lighting, multiple glazes and undercoating, and chiaroscuro modeling…. From far back they look indistinguishable, a fitting first impression given the usually overlooked, forgotten subject matter. But curiosity draws a viewer in, where they are either pleasantly surprised or mildly disappointed (“all this for old gum?”). The artist’s gentle joke pokes fun at the romantic aspirations of the painter to make grand paintings but the care with which the portraits are painted saves them from being simply one- liners.” -Jan Estep, from Other Positioning Systems
Lefkowitz’s work in painting, installation, and mixed media (including cardboard, sticks, sheetrock and Styrofoam) addresses paradoxes of perception both monumental and mundane. Much of his work explores the blurry boundary between the human-built environment and the natural world. Lefkowitz aims to create work that involves both transformation and transparency. Much of his work addresses expectations about how art is experienced in specific institutional contexts. Fixtures, which appeared in Lifelike at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, are small paintings of slightly misshapen wall sockets and security monitors interspersed stealthily throughout a gallery or museum. At first glance (if noticed at all) they appear as non-art objects- peripheral support features, but up close they’re clearly paintings, so they ‘belong’.
RESUME
Selected Exhibitions
One (and two) person shows
2016 Ambulatory Nirthfolde Information Dispensary
Perlman Teaching Museum, Northfield, MN
2014 Austerity Plans Soo Visual Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2013 Nirthfolde Visitor’s BureauNorthfield Arts Guild, Northfield MN
2011 Facilities and GroundsCarrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
2010 at or below see levelThomas Barry Fine Arts, Mpls, MN
2009 Other Positioning Systems Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
New CultivarsCarrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
2007 Tangle Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Oblivious to Place Cheekwood Museum, Nashville, TN
2006 Breach (installation) Gould Library, Carleton College, Northfield, MN
2005 make more small plans Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Topics for Further Discussion (with Stephen Mohring)
Carleton College Gallery, Northfield, MN
2004 Improvised StructuresDCKT Contemporary, New York, N
La Videbla Mondo Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
2002 The Surrounding AreaNo Name Gallery at the Soap Factory, Mpls, MN
CultivarsThomas Barry Fine Arts, Mpls, MN
2001 Building MaterialismFurlong Gallery, Univ of Wisconsin-Stout
2000 Natural CuriositiesSarratt Gallery, Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN
ResourcererThomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
Pictures of Common Detritus, Northwestern College, St. Paul, MN
1998 Wood By-ProductsRochester Art Center, Rochester, MN
1997 Nature WorldMinneapolis Institute of Art, Mpls, MN
1996 New DataConkling Gallery, Mankato St. Univ., Mankato, MN
1995 Assorted Paintings Middle Tenn. St. Univ., Murfreesboro, TN
Regular Paintings Brainerd Comm. College Gallery, Brainerd, MN
1994 Unlikely ScenariosKiehle Gallery, St. Cloud, MN
1993 New Paintings Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Mpls, MN
1992 Small and Medium PaintingsCenter for Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
1991 Fixtures (installation) Arena Theater Lobby, Northfield,MN
1988 Boring Scenery Granite Falls Restaurant, Nashville, TN
Person, Place, or Thing Jewish Community Center Gallery, Nashville, TN
Selected Group Shows
2017 SEEPerlman Teaching Museum, Northfield MN
The ProfessorsCumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2016 WALK Festival Carleton College
2015 AirInstinct Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
2014 Wild and Woolly New Art Center, Newton MA
Material Sense801 Art, Minneapolis, MN
Recent Acquisitions: Art Since 1985James J. Hill House, Minnesota Historical Society, St. Paul, MN
2013-16Artist-Designed Mini-Golf Walker Art Center, Minneapolis MN
2012 LifelikeWalker Art Center, Minneapolis MN (traveling: New Orleans Museum of Art, Nov 10, 2012–Jan 27, 2013, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego February 24–May 26, 2013, Blanton Museum of Art, Univ. of Texas at Austin, June 23–Sept.29, 2013, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ, Feb. 5- May 18, 2014, Ibid. (referencing Carleton collections) Perlman Teaching Museum, Northfield, MN
2011 Altered Ground Work Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI
2010 Ordinarily HereWeisman Museum, Minneapolis, MN
ImpactBloomington Art Center, Bloomington, MN
Shedding Light Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI
Going YardThomas Barry Fine Arts, Minneapolis, MN
2009 As We Live and BreathCarrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Natural Resourcery Carleton Art Gallery, Northfield, MN
Father/SonMinnetonka Center for the Arts, Mtka, MN
2008 Objects of Value Miami Art Museum. Miami FL
Future Tense Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
History Room The Soap Factory, Minneapolis, MN
2007 Paper Trail: Recent Acquisitions Walker Art Center, Mpls, MN
Environments of InventionMinnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN
2006 CommuteNorthfield Arts Guild, Northfield, MN
CitiesNash Gallery, Univ. of Minnesota, Mpls, MN
BLOOM Bell Museum of Natural History, Mpls, MN
2005 Mapping SpaceMiami Art Museum, Miami FL
Welcome 2 the Jungle, DCKT Contemporary, New York, NY
2004 Uncanny Visions: Contemporary Romantic LandscapesPlains Art Museum, Fargo, ND
7 Curatorial VisionsNash Gallery, U of Mn, Mpls, MN
2003 HybridsWave Hill, New York, NY
Natural SelectionCarrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Nature as AbstractionRochester Art Center, Rochester MN
Thomas Barry Fine Arts, Mpls, MN
2002 Plotting Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
IngrainedEvanston Art Center, Evanston, IL
Summer InvitatioalSherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO
2001 Amused Carrie Secrist Gallery, Chicago, IL
Minnesota Art with a TwistWeisman Art Museum, Mpls, MN
2000 A Broad ViewCentral Michigan University Gallery, Mt. Pleasant, MI
The Big BangRochester Art Center, Rochester MN
1999 BotanicaTweed Museum of Art, Duluth, MN (traveling 1999- Plains Air Museum, Fargo, ND, 2000- University Galleries, Illinois State Univ. Normal IL, Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, LA, Tarble Art Center, Charleston, IL, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL, Univ. ofDelaware, Newark, DE)
Nature as SourceAllegheny College, Meadville, PA
1998 Aloud ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL
1997 10,000 Lincoln Cheese LogsWriston Art Center, Appleton WI (traveling 1998- Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL, -Carleton College Gallery, Northfield, MN)
How to Describe a SuspectHyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
1996 Watershed Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN
EarthMinneapolis Institute of Art, Mpls, MN
1995 Nature Re-Constructed, Nature Re-envisionedMinneapolis Foundation, Mpls, MN
1994 Minnesota State Fair Juried Exhibit, St. Paul, MN
The Animal in Art World Trade Center, St. Paul, MN
1993 Six McKnight Artists Mpls. College of Art and Design, Mpls.,MN (traveled 1993-Steensland Art Museum, Northfield, MN, 1994- St. Mary's College Gallery, Winona, MN
Model Car Round-UpGallery 400, Chicago, IL
Landscapes 1993Condeso Lawler Gallery, New York, NY
Haunting ImagesUniv. of Wisc. at Eau Claire, Eau Claire, WI
1992 Paintings at the Nash Nash Gallery, Univ. of Minn.,Mpls, MN
Housewares on Level 6 Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, IL
1991 Source MaterialCenter for Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Artists Respond to WarpARTs Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
1989 The Presence of AbsenceGallery 400, Chicago, IL
1988 Summer Lights InvitationalNashville, TN
Collections
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
The Langen Foundation, Neuss, Germany
Miami Art Museum, Miami, FL
Minnesota History Center
Target Corporation
General Mills Collection
Commissions
2003 Target Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
1997 Accenture Consulting, Minneapolis, MN
1992 Dain Rauscher Corporation, Minneapolis, MN
Grants, Awards, Fellowships
2005 MCAD/McKnight Foundation Artist Fellowship
2003 Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship
Margaret Klimek Phillips Fellowship
2002 Bush Foundation Artist Fellowship
1996 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Fellowship
1994 Arts Midwest/N.E.A. Regional Visual Artists Fellowship
1993 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Fellowship
1992 McKnight Foundation Artist's Fellowship
1991 Cheekwood National Painting Competition, Nashville, TN - Merit Award
Education
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL - M.F.A. in painting, June 1990
Carleton College, Northfield, MN - B.A. in Studio Art, June 1985
Work Experience
Professor of Art
Carleton College, Northfield, MN(Jan.1997- present, Spring 1992, Sept. 1990-June 1991)
Affiliate Faculty - Instructor in Drawing and Painting
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN(1996- 1998)
Instructor
College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, MN(Fall 1997)
Visiting Artist
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines IA (Sept. - Nov. 1994)
Assistant Director
Gallery 400, Chicago, IL (March 1989- June1990)
Teaching Assistant
University of Illinois at Chicago. Chicago, IL
Department of Art and Design (Sept. 1988- June 1989)
Exhibit Preparator
Cheekwood Fine Arts Center, Nashville, TN (July 1985-Aug. 1988)
Sonngwriter, Vocalist, Percussionist, Graphic Designer
The Young Nashvillians, pop combo (1982-84)
Illustration
1998 Cover Art- The Promised Land- Milkweed Press
1997 Cover art and interior illustration- Night Out Milkweed Press
1996 Cover art- Sacred Ground Milkweed Press
Volunteer Work
1998-2000 Artists’ Panel - Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program, Minneapolis Institute of Art
1995-2001 graphic design- Habitat for Humanity
Bibliography:
Publications:
2010 Other Positioning Systemsexhibition catalog, Rochester Art Center, essays by Jan Estep, Kris Douglas
Articles Written
2013 “On ‘Painting in the Present Tense’ ” mnartists.blog
http://blogs.walkerart.org/mnartists/2013/02/19/in-response-to-painting-in-the-present-tense/
2001 “Edgy - Painting at the Edge of the World at the Walker Art Center” New Art Examiner, Oct.- Nov. 2001
“In Situ- 3 Minnesota Painters” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art , catalog essay
2000 “Have fun or Else: ‘Let’s Entertain’ meets ‘Star Wars’ “ New Art Examiner, July- Aug. 2000
1998 "Shopping and the Meaning of Life"(symposiumreview) New Art Examiner, April 1998
"The Trickster" (review - Robert Colescottat the Walker Art Center) City Pages, March , 1998
“Emotional Activism” (review-In the Eye of the Storm: Art of Conscience 1930-1970at Weisman Art Museum) City Pages, February 11, 1998
1997 “Multiplicity” (review- Joseph Beuys Multiplesat Walker Art Center) City Pages, October 15 1997, p. 47
1995 "James Whitney Tuthill- Studio View" New Art Examiner, January, p 32
"Lefkowitz' Brain on Duchamp's Leg" exhibition review Van Gogh's Ear, February, p 1
"Crossroads: Recent Abstract Painting" exhibition review, New Art Examiner, May. p 60
"In So Many Words" exhibition review, New Art Examiner, October, p 47
"Shana Kaplow and Michael Rathbun" Artists of the Year, City Pages, p 16
Reviews of work/Interviews
2014Riddle, Mason Reimagining Architectural History in Cardboard, April 24, 2014
http://www.metropolismag.com/Point-of-View/April-2014/Reimagining-Architectural-History-in-Cardboard/
Thomas, Dylan“Boxes on boxes on boxes” review of “Austerity Plans” Southwest Journal April 22, 2014
http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/art-beat/boxes-on-boxes-on-boxes
2013 Sturdevant, Andy“'Nirthfolde' has an air of authenticity, laced with absurdity” Minnpost, February 6, 2013
http://www.minnpost.com/stroll/2013/02/nirthfolde-has-air-authenticity-laced-absurdity
2012 Local Artist Interview
http://www.local-artist-interviews.com/2012/12/david-lefkowitz-painting-mixed-media.html
Nevitt, Jennifer “A Twist of Intellect” Mnartists.org, May 14, 2012
http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=314370
2010 Olson, Matt “Exploded View: David Lefkowitz” Threshold AiA-MN blog, Feb. 4
http://aia-mn.blogspot.com/2010/02/exploded-view-david-lefkowitz.html
2007 Riddle, Mason“Unnatural Nature” exhibition review Mnartists.org, April 2, 2007 http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=141692
Edsill, Sam, Interview Mental Contagion web magazine: http://www.mentalcontagion.com/issue0702/causeandeffect.html
2006 Aldorondo, Cecelia "Irreconcilable Differences" exhibition review, Mnartists.org August 10, 2006http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=112449
Tumlir, Jan4 McKnight Artistsexhibition catalogue
Gordon, Glen "The Hive" exhibition review, Mnartists.org,, January 31, 2006http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=92086
Abbe, Mary “Castles of Sand” Star Tribune, Jan. 27, 2006, p. F1
2005 Gordon, Glen "Cities, Twigs, and Cells" exhibitionreview Mnartists.org, Feb. 4,2005 http://www.mnartists.org/article.do?rid=59422
2004 Caniglia, Julia, “The Pick-Up Artist” The Rake, November 2004, p. 59
New American Paintings, #53, September 2004
2002 New American Paintings, #41, September 2002, pp. 82-85
Fallon, Michael, “Cultivars” exhibition review, City Pages, Nov. 13, 2002, p. 47 Amie, Jennifer, “The Surrounding Area” exhibition review, Art Papers, Nov.-Dec. 2002, p. 51
Fallon, Michael, “the REAL thing”. City Pages, June 19, 2002, p.25
2001 Silberman, Robert, exhibition review, Art in America, July 2001
2000 Knowles, Susan, exhibition review, Art Papers, Sept-Oct 2000, p. 40
Wibking, Angela, “Indoor Living” exhibition review, Nashville Scene, February 3, 2000
1998 Weins, Ann, "Just Add Water" exhibition review, New Art Examiner, May 1998
1997 Morgan, Cynthia, “David Lefkowitz” exhibition review, New Art Examiner, December ‘97/January ‘98, p. 60
Riddle, Mason, “In ‘Nature World,’ Lefkowitz ponders awkward relationships” Pioneer Press , July 31, 1997
LeFevre, Camille, “Framing Nature,” Minnesota Monthly, August 1997, p. 30
Sullivan, Kate, “Nature Boy,” City Pages, August 27, 1997, p. 38
Caniglia, Julie, “Naturally Conflicted,” Arts, September 1997, p. 6-7
1996 Riddle, Mason. "David Lefkowitz" exhibition review, New Art Examiner, January, p 48
1995 Caniglia, Julie. "Bent for Nature" exhibition review, City Pages, September 13, p 27
1992 Yood, James. “David Lefkowitz” exhibition review, Artforum, May 1992 pp. 122-123
1991 Mc Laughlin, Bonnie. “Source Material: A Glimpse Intothe Artist’s Studio”, The Chicago Reader, Inside Art, August 9, pp. 32 - 33
Hawkins, Margaret. “Studio Is the Art in an Exhibit that offers Unique View”, Chicago Sun Times, August 2, p. 58