GALLERIA LORCAN O'NEILL ROMA

Galleria Lorcan O’Neill presents an exhibition of ten new paintings of landscapes and interiors by Matvey Levenstein. The works depict scenes drawn from the artist’s life in New York and in Orient, on the northern shores of Long Island, NY, in which nature is prominent: forests in winter, the moodiness of a stormy sky, a vase of flowers reflecting the afternoon light.

Working with a limited palette on toned backgrounds, Levenstein’s compositions are characterized by the patient build-up of layers of paint which are often scraped back and re-applied slowly and meticulously over many months.

Levenstein’s works trace back to the European tradition of painting, from Italian Mannerism and Caravaggio to Degas, Ingres, and Morandi, going through the meditative scenes of Caspar David Friedrich. The artist’s subjects, still lifes and landscapes, are among the most traditional genres in figurative painting.