Philip Levine

I didn't start to paint until turning 40 years of age. Actually it was on my birthday that I remember this conversation I had with myself: "you've been given the gift of art but have not opened that gift." It was that simple and from that day on I committed myself relentlessly to find out what I had inside as an artist. I started taking classes locally with a housewife in Colorado and got my real first feel of what it was like to move paint around on the canvas. There was no formal way to study in Denver at the time so I founded the Art Students League in 1987 so I would have a place to study art.
Then when I found a weakness in my art I focused on doing what I could to strengthen myself. To study composition I went to the Musee d'Orsay when I was in Paris and sketched each of the Impressionist canvases they had so I would better understand what makes for a good composition. When I wanted to learn about color I read 5 books on the subject, spent many hours doing color charts and then experimented by taking color to it's most far out extreme -only to wind up bringing it back to the point where it is now. When figures were my weakness I took figure drawing and anatomy classes. And to this day I'm still learning. My palette is calle...

When I needed a place to study painting in the late 1980's I founded the Art Students League of Denver patterned after the 140 year old Art Students League of New York. I studied there and exhibited in Denver for 8 years before moving back to NYC. I continued my studies at the League in New York.

Exhibitions and Representation
July 2023 St John's in the Village - mythological, historical, and religious theme paintings
April 2022 Chase Bank of Greenwich Village - Scenes of the Village;
April 2018 Bryant Park (NYC) Event Space- Civil War paintings
June 2014 DK Gallery Marietta, GA: paintings commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War
July 2013 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC one man show
August 2012 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC one man show
March 2012 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC one man show
April 2011 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC group show
November 2010 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC one man show
Spring 2010 Sarah Jessica Fine Arts - Provincetown, MA (Cape Cod)
November 2009 Pleiades GalleryChelsea, NYC one man show
April 2009 Red Dot award Art Students League of New York
September 2008 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC one man show
December 2007 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC Group Show
November 2007 Pleiades Gallery Chelsea, NYC acceptance as member
August 2006 Stony Creek, CT "award - first place oils"
August 2004 88 Orchard Restaurant Paintings of New York City 88 Orchard Street NYC
June 2003 Carrie Haddad Gallery Hudson NY 'The Painted City"
December 2002 Lafayette restaurant, Downtown Manhattan - mixed subjects
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