GALLERY PRESS RELEASE:

Nina Levy's lifelike sculptures and photographs are dramatic self-portraits featuring startlingly disproportionate parts of the body emphasizing an exaggerated gesture or expression.  In theatrical photographs taken against stark black backgrounds, she wears a prosthetic grin, a larger than life head fitted over her own, or a realistic mask showing another side of herself.  As both sculptor and sculpture, creator and subject, Levy investigates a psychology of the self, her identity exposed or guised.  Aggressively gregarious or defensively withdrawn, ingratiating or threatening, she can present herself as she wishes- a refective or projected image.

Addressing our feelings of vulnerability and apprehension, Levy's sculptures and photographs metaphorically show us that we all wear an appearance and present a persona--how we face ourselves and those around us.

DESCRIPTION OF INSTALLATION & SCULPTURE:
(ADDITIONAL COMMENTARY)

Thematically speaking, the two sculptures in this exhibition address the ambivalent nature of self- exposure, or more generally speaking self-presentation.  Any exhibition of my work, and perhaps to some varying degree, any exhibition of  any artist's work, hinges on self-exposure, and a need to attract attention.  But it is hard to feel unreservedly good about being an ingratiating exhibitionist, so to speak. 

The first sculpture, Greeter, is positioned obstreperously close to the glass doors, receiving visitors as they enter.  Its posture is intended to be simultaneously ingratiating and mildly threatening.  The piece is considerably larger than life size, measuring about 6'3'' in a slouchy posture.  I am 5'7" at my tallest. It is realistically rendered, perhaps with the exception of the grin.  The clothing is sculpted, and might be recognizable to some as a utilitarian outfit that I wear all the time.

The second sculpture, Exhibitionist, sits on one end of  the bench in the gallery.  It is the inverse of the greeter at the front door in terms of dress and posture- it is exposed and anti- social.  It is turning its back (literally) in a self-protective gesture. The piece is 70% life size, although the prosthetic hands are considerably larger than life size.  This piece is probably less about social ambivalence and more concerned with my relationship to my work.  It is partially about the tension between being a sculptor and being a "sculpture" (ie- being the maker of an object versus being objectified)  I originally thought about the hands as "the hands of the sculptor" in a cliche sense.  During my time in school, it was suggested to me more than once that I would be better off as a painter because the difficult physical labor of making sculpture would enlarge my hands in an unfeminine way.  And extra-large, expressive hands are of course a staple of traditional, figurative (Rodinesque) sculpture.