michael levchenko

I began sculpting at the early age of 15 at the Ukrainian National Art School. I have used many different materials: clay, stone, metal, and bronze, and have incorporated a wide range of techniques. I started out creating figurative art which gradually evolved into abstraction. I find that in abstraction, I am able to shape a space emotionally and intellectually. It is in abstraction that I experience complete freedom and expression though pure forms, void of details or special effects. My goal is to be a participant in contemporary art making.

While in the past, the purpose of art was to invoke a sense of beauty, contemporary art often deals with the opposite. There is an effort to shock using any and all available methods. I believe this approach is destined to run dry once all avenues for shock value have been explored. This emphasis on shock or surprise inevitably loses it’s effectiveness with the passage of time. What was made yesterday, is no longer of value today. It is for this reason that I concern myself with aesthetic forms. Before ethics, we had aesthetics through our interaction with nature. I believe that, unless there is explicit nihilism, the value of art cannot be exhausted and so I support my anti-nihilism stance through sculpture.

With the expansion of media, the art of sculpture enjoys new facets. However, at the end of the day, whether in a private or public space, sculpture is still about the relationship between the sculpture and the spectator, that private moment when the viewer experiences it by traveling around it alone.

Although my abstract art is continually progressing, one can still find reference to the human being and to its forms and symbols. I conceive many of my projects in three dimensional form and then implement those ideas into (traditional?) large scale stone or metal structures.

Many things have influenced my art, including both traditional European sculpture and modern art. My interest in primitive and prehistoric art has also contributed significantly to my personal aesthetic. I consciously incorporate the archaic mood and tension typical of primitive art from Africa, Oceania, and pre-Columbian America. My extensive travels and visits to view primitive art at museums have greatly impacted my practice.

The materials I use – stone, granite, sandstone, and marble – present technical limitations which predetermine the finished form.

Art is a universal means of communication and the language of sculpture is especially clear to most people by its nature as one of the most ancient and universal art practices. My aim is to create aesthetic images which are intrinsically emotional, that moment when a pure idea and the subconscious synergize.

It is through public art that an individual artist’s message can reach the public at large.

I have created some 40 monumental sculptures, both public and private, in cities in 18 different countries. I believe the most important part of my work is the dialogue that it has with contemporary society. The public’s reaction to my work pushes me to move ahead, ever looking for new means of expression, ideological, formal, and technical.