Marcus Levine and Painting with Nails

Usually we don't blog as much about painting, but in a sense, this is more like sculpting anyway. Marcus Levine is a true construction genius, implementing a knowledge of chiaroscuro into each and every one of his fantastic grayscale artworks. The catch here is the media that he makes use of.

Marcus sculpts (or paints?) with nails. That's right, industrial grade nails that we normally use for hanging or shutting things around the house. This artist has turned an ordinary utility into an extraordinary possibility. The proximity of one nail in relation to the next gives the ability to create "shades" in every piece Marcus makes. As a contemporary artist, he joins the ranks as being an sculpture innovator for 2012 (at least in our book).

In the second photo above, Marcus Levine is seen with his work, "Tamas Study 4". The artwork contains 26,600 nails and is on sale for £26,500 at the Hammered exhibition at Gallery 27, in London.

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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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