What are you celebrating this season? We’re celebrating BSA readers and fans with a holiday assorted chocolate box of 15 of the smartest and tastiest people we know. Each day until the new year we ask a guest to take a moment to reflect on 2015 and to tell us about one photograph that best captures the year for him or her. It’s our way of sharing the sweetness of the season and saying ‘thank you’ for inspiring us throughout the year.

Jonathan LeVine has been director since 2005 of Jonathan LeVine Gallery, an essential venue for Street Art and Pop Surrealism that brings a steady parade of mind-bending talent and shows to the heart of Manhattan’s Chelsea art district. Independently curating exhibitions at punk and alternative rock venues in the 1990s probably helped prepare Jonathan to deftly straddle the competing influences of counterculture, activism, and commercialism at play today; which he does with a frankly sharp wit and a still-marveling true appreciation for art and the artist.

Chelsea, Manhattan, NYC
October 16, 2015
Photograph by Jonathan LeVine

This is a photo I took of my good buddy Evan Pricco who also happens to be the editor of Juxtapoz. Evan and I were walking back to my gallery from the West Village where we had dinner when we stumbled across this little fellow.

I don’t often take photos of street art but I liked this one piece in particular because it was kind of inconspicuous. It reminded me of the old New York where I would run into some quick graffiti like doodle or street intervention that would kind of pop up and surprise me and make me laugh.

Nowadays with street art/mural art run amok all over the world I feel like it’s all a bit forced on me. This piece felt authentic and it was nice to discover it with Evan. For me this photo captures a meaningful moment in NYC and reminds me of a fun night of feeling connected through the exchange of interesting conversation and ideas. These types of moments don’t come as often as they used to in this constantly changing city.

~ Jonathan Levine