Spotlight: Marc Leavitt
Yacine & Tirdad, Marc Leavitt
January 16, 2020 — April 4, 2020
About the Show
The exhibition features work from Marc Leavitt’s Mithuna Series. As the artist describes the series: “My Mithuna Series of abstract figurative paintings was influenced by The Three Ways of Asian Wisdom: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Zen and their significance for the West (a book written by Nancy Wilson Ross) and the extraordinary writings of Krishnamurti, a renowned spiritual teacher awarded the United Nations Peace Medal in 1984.
Mithuna, in Tantric art, references couples sculptured in intimate embrace. I create paintings of multinational same-sex couples that suggest sculptural beauty using bold planes of color and meditative geometries. Working on this series for 8+ years, I have paired 38 couples from different nationalities with four aspects of contemplation: Collected Image, Meditation, Vibration, and Homage. Thus far, 45+ paintings are completed.
Krishnamurti wrote, ‘When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence.’ I think of these portraits as a taking away of boundaries and violence. Ultimately, these paintings are my expression of love as a human being.”
