The mundane is made sacred in the full-wall alter created at the back of Jonathan Levine’s gallery for the first solo New York show by Faith47. Small collected ephemera is displayed in groupings of signs, cards, documents, family photos and hand painted works by the South African artist whose work on the street is large scale and at times haunting, holy.
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
As the name of the show indicates Aqua Regalia – Chapter Two is a continuation of her 2014 London exhibition at Moniker Projects and elsewhere in the show you see the artist experimenting with collage of found objects alongside of paintings on wood and canvas. Opening on a night when Manhattan was enjoying a near continuous inundating downpour, the water washes and dream-like sequences, symbols and forms were only enhanced. With references to the sanctified and the dirty politics of being human, the Aqua regalia (royal water) here is in the hands of a medium, channeling spirits with a sense of the mystic and disarming with plain truths.
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Detail. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Detail. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Detail. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Detail. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” Detail. Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Manhattan, NY (photo © Jaime Rojo)
Faith 47 “Aqua Regalia” is open for the general public at Jonathan LeVine Gallery in Manhattan. Click HERE for details.
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