Chris Levine (born 1960) is a UK-based artist, working in the field of

light art Light art or The Art of Light is generally referring to a visual art form in which (physical) light is the main, if not sole medium of creation. Uses of the term differ drastically in incongruence; definitions, if existing, vary in several asp ...

. Chris Levine is a light artist with a multi-disciplinary approach that harnesses a diverse array of technology with the intention of revealing the ways in which light is fundamental to human experience. Levine uses cross-fertilization across many fields including music, performance, installation, fashion and design in a multitude of collaborative projects. He has worked with a wide range of collaborators, including

Antony and the Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is an American music group presenting the work of Anohni and her collaborators. Career British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Anohni's music through his Durtro label ...

Philip Treacy Philip Anthony Treacy (born 26 May 1967) is an Irish haute couture milliner, or hat designer, who has been mostly based in London for his career, and who was described by ''Vogue'' magazine as "perhaps the greatest living milliner". In 2000, T ...

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

Asprey Asprey International Limited, formerly Asprey & Garrard Limited, is a United Kingdom-based designer, manufacturer and retailer of jewellery, silverware, home goods, leather goods, timepieces and a retailer of books. Asprey's flagship re ...

Jewellers,

Mario Testino Mario Eduardo Testino Silva OBE HonFRPS (born 30 October 1954) is a Peruvian fashion and portrait photographer. His work has featured internationally in magazines such as ''Vogue, V Magazine,'' '' Vanity Fair'' and '' GQ.'' He has also cre ...

and has an ongoing relationship with The

Eden Project The Eden Project ( kw, Edenva) is a visitor attraction in Cornwall, England, UK. The project is located in a reclaimed china clay pit, located from the town of St Blazey and from the larger town of St Austell.Ordnance Survey (2005). ''OS E ...

. Levine is driven by a deep-rooted desire to expand perception and guide the viewer to a meditative engagement with the present moment. His portraits are internationally recognised but he is not a portrait artist in the traditional sense. Levine is known for creating the ''Lightness of Being'' and ''Equanimity'', both portraits of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. ''Equanimity'' was commissioned by the

Jersey Heritage Trust Jersey Heritage is an independent Charitable trust, trust in Jersey which is responsible for the island's major historic sites, museums, and public archives. It holds collections of artefacts, works of art, documents, specimens, and informati ...

in 2004 and on 1 June 2012, a £100 note was issued to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II based on the portrait. At the heart of Levine's practice are his immersive light

Installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

projects in which he has endeavoured to take art out of the gallery environment into a real world, mass participatory experience. Levine has five separate works in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery. In 2019 Chris Levine's portrait 'Banksy D sold for almost ten times the estimate at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

MIB auction. According to the

Artnet Artnet.com is an art market website. It is operated by Artnet Worldwide Corporation, which has headquarters in New York City, in the United States, and is owned by Artnet AG, a German publicly traded company based in Berlin that is listed on t ...

Price Database, Levine's record at auction is £187,500 ($234,023), achieved for another print of ''Lightness of Being'', sold at Sotheby's London in 2017.

Exhibitions

In 2011 his work was included in “Other Worldy” at The Museum of Arts and Design in New York. In 2012 his work featured in The Queen: Art and Image at London's National Portrait Gallery which travelled to

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

, Cardiff,

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

, Scotland;

Ulster Museum The Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres (90,000 sq. ft.) of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasure ...

, Belfast. In 2012 his work was also included in ''Out of Focus'' at The

Saatchi Gallery The Saatchi Gallery is a London gallery for contemporary art and an independent charity opened by Charles Saatchi in 1985. Exhibitions which drew upon the collection of Charles Saatchi, starting with US artists and minimalism, moving to the D ...

. Levine was also part of the Digital Darkroom Exhibition at

The Annenberg Foundation The Annenberg Foundation is a family foundation that provides funding and support to non-profit organizations in the United States and around the world. Some of the Foundation's core initiatives are the Annenberg/Corporation for Public Broadcast ...

in Los Angeles 2012. National Portrait Gallery Poster

He has artwork in the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in mu ...

in London and has staged light performances in association with the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

in New York at

Radio City Music Hall Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplac ...

. His exhibition Hypervisual 1.2 completed a tour of 12 countries with the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

. To mark Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee, Levine partnered with Asprey to create a new work based upon his seminal 2004 portrait Equanimity. This new work is entitled The Diamond Queen. Asprey re-created the Queen's diamond diadem, worn at the Coronation in 1953. In June 2013 he exhibited ''Light 3.142'' at The

Fine Art Society The Fine Art Society is a gallery based in both London and in Edinburgh's New Town (originally Bourne Fine Art, established 1978). The New Bond Street, London gallery closed its doors in August 2018 after being occupied by The Fine Art Society si ...

on New Bond Street curated by Kate Bryan and featuring his new body of work ''She's Light'' with

Kate Moss Katherine Ann Moss (born 16 January 1974) is a British model. Arriving at the end of the "supermodel era", Moss rose to fame in the early 1990s as part of the heroin chic fashion trend. Her collaborations with Calvin Klein brought her to fas ...

as the subject, the image was officially launched afterwards in Selfridges corner window for

Charlotte Tilbury Charlotte Tilbury MBE is a British beauty entrepreneur and makeup artist. She is the founder, chairperson, president, and chief creative officer of the makeup and skincare brand Charlotte Tilbury Beauty Ltd. Tilbury is a contributing beauty ed ...

's event. In July 2013 Chris staged a light performance at

The Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

with

Antony and The Johnsons Antony and the Johnsons is an American music group presenting the work of Anohni and her collaborators. Career British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Anohni's music through his Durtro label ...

for the second tour of ''Swan Lights''. Anthony and The Johnsons ROH 19 72 ppi 1547 1396

In November 2013, Chris Levine was commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery to create a portrait of Baroness Helena Kennedy of The Shaws QC, FRSA which was unveiled on 26 November and is now situated in Room 38a in the Ground floor Lerner Contemporary Galleries at the National Portrait Gallery, London. In March 2013 Chris Levine's bespoke light installation ''Man by Ida by Chris'' and FusionBox AM's soundscape filled the Ondaatje Wing Main Hall at The National Portrait Gallery. The Salon De Lumière was inspired by th
Man Ray portraits exhibition
which paid homage to

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, although his t ...

, considered the original ‘Master of Light’. In December 2014, Chris Levine teamed up with electronic producer and composer

Jon Hopkins Jonathan Julian Hopkins (born 15 August 1979) is an English musician and producer who writes and performs electronic music. He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Co ...

to present the premiere of the iy_project at

Wonderfruit Wonderfruit is an annual gathering that explores wonder through art, culture, music, and nature taking place at The Fields at Siam Country Club, outside Pattaya in Chonburi Province, Thailand. With an emphasis on experiences that explore the rela ...

in Thailand. The set was an offshoot from his work with Eden Project and combined Levine's light installations with Hopkins' music. In October 2015 Levine staged an immersive light installation 'Angel Presence' at the Danish Church,

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

, London in association with

Swarovski Swarovski (, ) is an Austrian producer of glass based in Wattens, Austria, and has existed as a family-owned business since its founding in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski. The company is split into three major industry areas: the Swarovski Crystal ...

. In 2016 Levine exhibited ''Mr Kubrick is Looking'' a piece made by projecting LED light into the viewer's periphery at the exhibition ''Daydreaming with Stanley Kubrick'' at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

curated by

James Lavelle James Lavelle (born 22 February 1974) is an English electronic musician, record label owner and curator. He founded the Mo'Wax record label in 1992, and has been the only constant member of UNKLE. He directed the 2014 edition of the Meltdow ...

and James Putnam in partnership with

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the conceptual material accepted as official in a fictional universe by its fan base * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western ca ...

and additional support from the Blavatnik Family Foundation. In 2016 Levine received a commission to commemorate the 950th anniversary of the

Battle of Hastings The Battle of Hastings nrf, Batâle dé Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William the Conqueror, William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godw ...

. Launching the Root 1066 International Festival, Levine created a light triangulation with three lasers, two placed at opposite ends of the coast that joined a third laser on

Hastings Pier Hastings Pier is a public pleasure pier in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Built in 1872 and enjoying its prime in the 1930s, it became a popular music venue in the 1960s. The structure suffered major storm damage in 1990, and was closed to the ...

. In 2017 Levine staged ‘iy_project in the Dark Park’, at

DARK MOFO Dark Mofo is the winter version of the MONA FOMA festival, also held in Tasmania. With many of its events taking place at night, it celebrates the darkness of the southern winter solstice and features many musical acts, large scale light insta ...

Festival in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. The festival is billed as Tasmania's largest contemporary music festival and showcases the work of artists in a broad range of art forms, including sound, noise, dance, theatre, visual art, performance & new media. In 2018 Chris Levine's major solo show 'Inner eepSpace' was exhibited at Park Village studios during the Frieze London, it was listed on the Frieze VIP program. David Furnish and Chris Levine hosted the preview night of the exhibition.

Charity

Chris Levine has been involved in six different EJAF galas since 2018 with total monies raised at over £3M, along with

amfAR amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, known until 2005 as the American Foundation for AIDS Research, is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and the advocacy of ...

donations in Mexico City, NYC, Hong Kong and Cannes, The Starlight Foundation, Teen Cancer America, The Aspinall Foundation, The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Fund,UNICEF and a number of other notable charities. In 2019 Chris Levine donated a work at an auction hosted by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

for the

Elton John Aids Foundation The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) is a nonprofit organization, established by rock musician Sir Elton John in 1992 in the United States and 1993 in the United Kingdom to support innovative HIV prevention, education programs, direct care a ...

which raised $360,000.

References

External links

*
Chris Levine at artnet.com

Chris Levine selected works

Chris Levine at mutualart.com

Kate Moss' 3D Hologram Light Portrait by Artist Chris Levine

Project Ocean: Chris Levine

Chris Levine: Light Entertainment
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Levine, Chris 1960 births Living people British artists