NFTs by LevCo /  by boruch lev

Probably no more than three months ago I learned what is an NFT.  Greg, my older son introduced me to them. He had already made an account in Open_Sea (LevCo) and was plowing this field expanding his research, how to plant and grow. Now I can look at my pieces like at starters made out of clay and watch them developing in a new way. Honestly, I didn’t digest a 100% of what Greg said right away. Went goggling to learn more. Well, I’ve learned that each NFT item is not less unique than snowflake. That’s good! Alright, lets expand LevCo Studio, our family business into crypto market:)

So, from time to time I wash my hands from clay and go to my computer to work on Photoshop on my new and old pieces. Sometimes Greg is coming and we, like amateur magicians make tricks with a “green screen” and other basic equipment. It's kind of a digital alchemy, processing clay and charcoal into crypto currency. Still the main component is a light, maybe similar to one that was used at the beginning:)

Here is a link to NFT account and a few examples of NFT art: original is a terracotta relief “Things we see and things we don’t” and it’s “Seasons and Times”

Medieval alchemical experiments were not very successful in producing gold out of dirt, but have made a great push for the future science. Creativity inspires more creativity.

So, we expect a positive result:)

PS Just read an good article and I think it’s a good addition for this topic

Pinning time. /  by boruch lev

After years I’m coming back to my blog page:) it was blog about my flight from Beijing back to Chicago. Interesting to fly an another circle over that flight... Time flies. Does anyone understand what canvas of time is? What I know is that time looks different from different perspective and that it shrinks. I dislike it shrinking and I'm trying to pin it by any object I have in my hand and out in my mind. Trying is not necessarily successful. As well as putting things in order as needed at my home. Well, let's go back to my pins.

Here are few latest exhibits and pieces exhibited :

  • “Toys” at CAVA,

  • “Six Days” at AJAC,

  • “An Egg” at Evanston Biennale.

  • The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn.

My installation “Six Days” represents days of Creation in biblical terms. A composition of six terracotta reliefs 36”x40”.

An Egg, 20”x28”x12”, weld forged metal, ceramic.An egg is a symbol of unknown future in beautiful shape, symbol of potential life in challenging environment.

An Egg, 20”x28”x12”, weld forged metal, ceramic.

An egg is a symbol of unknown future in beautiful shape, symbol of potential life in challenging environment.

Toys, 12”x15”x15”, terracotta. We watch news and we see broken toys at the bombed streets of Syrian cities… We destroy each other cubic towers and sand castles being kids. We try to dominate. Is it only way of life? Is it possible to slow down?

Toys, 12”x15”x15”, terracotta. We watch news and we see broken toys at the bombed streets of Syrian cities… We destroy each other cubic towers and sand castles being kids. We try to dominate. Is it only way of life? Is it possible to slow down?

This year, a few months ago my friend Doron, a guy with a great eye and talented  in many ways, suggested to make a movie about my art and we decided to focus on  2020. Here is a link to  ten minute video “2020”.

This is my art site and use of a term 'canvas' as a metaphor of time should be appropriate. Also, it helps to focus on art achievements and to blur the rest. ..... I do not intend to make this blog too long. However we made progress and canvas partially stretched, pinned and somewhere is still lose, So, we have room for a future progress.

Absurd Dairy /  by boruch lev

I'm 30,000 feet above the ground, crossing the snowy and icy lands of China, East Russia, and Greenland. I'm coming back to Chicago from Beijing after The Beijing International Art Biennale. The navigation line on the screen on the front of me is slowly crossing Russia straight North and a bit East of Baikal. It's near an area where I was hiking and kayaking about 30 years ago. Maybe some people are there right now challenging themselves as I did. The line on the screen slowly moves. I can’t take my eyes from patterns of clouds, endless plains, curves of sea shore, and the far off white Greenland mountains.

Henry Moore remembers traveling frequently on a train from his parents’ home to London while he was a college student. He was always completely absorbed by the landscape outside the window, leaving him unable to read. I felt that I was under the same magical spell. In Beijing I met hundreds of people from all over the world. There are so many differences yet so many commonalities. Surprisingly I feel that to see people is even more important than to see their art. There have been people and there has  been art, and to meet artists has been as important as to see their art. I would not say that I love all I have seen. Some pieces have been interesting, some looked average, a few were really terrific, and some... I couldn't accept as artwork. How does something become a piece of visual art? Without looking at the dictionary I would say art is "a visual statement". If an artist has to say something important, I respect it, and even love it if it clicks with my emotions. If I do not see the point something inside me rejects the piece. I can't respect art created for marketing purposes if it is only wrapping itself on the most trending ideas. In what I just said there is a lot of controversy. However, those thoughts pushed me to start Absurd Diary.

I had the idea to parody some kind of art that I couldn't take seriously, which looks for me like the absurd. Very soon I slid down to the different ground. I realized that sometimes art is only part of the picture and why should I limit myself? So, I took my iPad and I was happily making sketches for the next couple of hours.

I sketched "What is our Way?" depicting a suicidal tendency of our humankind. The second one was "A Fish in Oil" a reminder of our responsibility in this world, then more and more... It was too easy. It was fun, but it was way too easy. Could something this easy be art?t. I feltthat I began to create the art that I was trying to separate myself from. However, I turned some of my sketches into clay. I sculpted reliefs in terracotta. I worked in  the same size, I wrote a diary!

Sometimes I changed the scale and my style: I created “Memorial Pond,” a dedication to American culture and a reflection of the sad thought that old American values are getting washed away by a new reality.

Of course, there is also“Mr. Fraud” and “Mrs. Lie,” my contribution to the last presidential elections.

Sometimes I feel that I should slow down with my “Diary.” It takes me away from the path that I consider more important for my art and for myself. On the other hand, there is no “wrong way” in art. I guess instinctively we go from the darkness to the light no matter how we understand those terms.

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