Jonathan LeVine (born 1968) is a New York City art dealer. Since 2005, he has owned and operated Jonathan LeVine Gallery, which currently has two locations in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. LeVine has been instrumental in the promotion and proliferation of lowbrow and street art on the east coast.
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Early life
As a youth in Trenton, New Jersey LeVine recognized the potential commercial appeal of countercultural aesthetics including punk flyers, comics, graffiti and tattoos. Beginning in 1994, while working at Montclair State University, LeVine became an independent curator, exhibiting this type of art at punk rock venues CBGB, Webster Hall, and Max Fish. The artists featured in these early exhibitions include well-known figures such as Ron English, Daniel Johnston, and Shepard Fairey. By the late 1990s the magazine, Juxtapoz, was exposing this pop-sensible style to a national audience.
Career
In February 2001, LeVine opened his own gallery, Tin Man Alley in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Tin Man Alley initially sold vintage toys and novelty items to help support the gallery, but soon the business was fully supported by art sales. Juxtapoz and the proliferation of images on the internet brought enough attention to LeVine's New Hope exhibitions to allow for the gallery's relocation to Philadelphia in late 2002. The artists featured in shows such as "The New Surrealists" and "The Uncertainty Principle" include Mark Ryden, Shag (Josh Agle), Jeff Soto, and Gary Baseman.
In January 2005, LeVine moved his gallery to Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood at 529 West 20th Street. His opening show, Pop Pluralism, included works by Gary Baseman, the Clayton Brothers, and Camille Rose Garcia.
In 2007, LeVine promoted graffiti art as fine art, holding a major group show in conjunction with São Paulo's Choque Cultural gallery. Eight Brazilian street and graffiti artists traveled to New York – several for their first trip to the United States - for their exhibition called "Ruas De São Paulo." In December 2007, LeVine had another international street art show called The Streets of Europe featuring artists from France, England, and Italy, including, BO130, Blek le Rat, D*Face, and Space Invader (Invader (artist)).
In June 2007, for Shepard Fairey’s solo exhibition E Pluribus Venom, LeVine rented a temporary space in the DUMBO section of Brooklyn.
In March 2010, LeVine's Five Year Anniversary Group Exhibition was featured in a full-page article in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times. In addition to the article, the exhibition was showcased in a three-part interactive feature on The New York Times website.
In early 2012, Gingko Press released Delusions, a retrospective of the foundation and development of the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Later that year, the gallery presented Détournement: Signs of the Times, an anticipated group exhibition curated by Carlo McCormick, featuring work by a number of artists, including Dan Witz, Jack Pierson and Ron English.
In early 2014, Jonathan LeVine Gallery expanded and now has a second location at 557C West 23rd Street. That same year the gallery partnered with Juxtapoz and presented Art Truancy: Celebrating 20 Years of Juxtapoz Magazine The exhibition took place at both Jonathan LeVine Gallery locations and included over 40 artists. Juxtapoz also included an interview with Jonathan LeVine in the June 2014 issue.