Stacy Levi's Ecological Patterns in Contemporary Art

It's a rare thing to chance upon an artist whose passionate about the ways of the natural world. With several nature-inspired works such as River Eyelash ( 3,000 painted buoys responding to wind force on a river), Stacy Levi is an ecology patron who's also a one of a kind sculptor. It's not enough to say that academic taught her all of what she knows about art, because just as many artists often find their true calling through spontaneous emotion and activity, Levi found hers through the environment's gravitating influence on humanity. Many of her works sit atop river streams or woodlands and depict a rendering of nature in an raw form of grace and power.

Sculpture by Stacy Levi , Photography by Lionel Gruenberg

Her sculpture project in Mineral Springs Park, Seattle, is called Cloud Stones. These are made up of incredibly high gloss (polished) black stones that are in the shape of smooth domes. Text is inscribed by sandblasting material onto the domes and they tell the type of weather which cloud formations bring. White domes in the area also create a soothing and prominent evening presence and their color contrast with the black stones gives them more of a vibrance at dusk when the shadows return to the landscape.

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Experimental Sculpture Evolution : Yaacov Agam's Journey

Not many visual artists are known from the holy land, but Israeli sculptor Yaacov Agam stands out as one of the most influential experimental sculptors today. Agam began his life as Yaakov Gipstein on May 11, 1928. As a young boy, he was already fond of aesthetic elements regularly found everyday, such as the bright colors of cityscapes and building designs. He eventually grew up into a true-blue lover of the arts, studying at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. He also studied later on with Johanned Itten at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Switzerland (where he moved to after his previous schooling). Currently Agam resides in Paris, where he has a daughter and two sons.

Sculpture by Yaacov Agam - Photography by Sheynhertz-Unbayg

At the beginning of his artistic career, Agam already had a knack for experimentation of color and geometrical contour. He often worked with sculptural fountains commissioned by various institutions. His first solo exhibit was at the Galerie Graven in 1953. Succeeding this exhibit was a smaller exhibition of 3 works at the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles. At the Le Mouvement exhibition at the Galerie Denise René, he was finally able to establish himself as a pioneer in kinetic art along with some other famous art personalities such as Pol Bury and Jean Tinguely. To this day, Agam loves to integrate his works with a flurry of light and sound. His captivating structural artworks often engage onlookers into an interactive participation. Some of his best projects for us, include the "Double Metamorphosis III" and the invention of a type of print called the "Agamograph", which makes use of lenticular printing to display different images depending on the angle upon which it is viewed.

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