Carol Nathan Levin at Gallery @ 157
by Robyn Sassen
Carol Nathan Levin presents a very potent press release describing the emotional and difficult origins of her use of the Haitian technique of Drapo Vodou, an intensive and obsessive hand-sewing and -overlapping of sequins forming images. It was her sister's cancer diagnosis that brought her to begin using the technique as a means to get her mind off things. Her sister was healed, but a few years later, her mother, too was diagnosed. The sequins became a physical mantra for Nathan Levin and her exhibition at Gallery @ 157 in Jan Smuts Avenue grew organically out of this.
Nathan Levin is competent with this technique, but the images tend to be either one-liners or direct quotes from other art and fairly staid in approach. Another problem with this show is the gallery strategy. On paper, this is Nathan Levin's solo exhibition. In the gallery space, there are a lot of other things being marketed that have nothing to do with Nathan Levin's work and that interfere with a direct viewing of it. It doesn't seem fair to compel an artist to share exhibiting space with jewellery pieces, objects from African culture, co-operative embroidery projects and the like, and reduces the feel and potential drama of the solo show itself.
That said, there are individual pieces on show here that offer insight into the splendid nature of the medium, denying the sequin its traditionally perceived shallow decorative reality. The works do tend to be very tight compositionally and interpretatively. One series comments on goodwill for a reconstructed South Africa, another, a step by step reduction of a live cock to its cooked chicken status. In works where she derives the spine of her image from a quoted one, like Hokusai's famous wave, Nathan Levin demonstrates a level of playfulness with the technique which shows promise.
Reading these works and understanding that Nathan Levin took to using the technique as a form of emotional therapy for herself, I can see her expanding the possibilities of this technique. On a level, this is a contradiction in terms, because the technique is so labour intensive, but looking at these uniformly sized and tight one-liners, I feel them stretched to the point of explosion and Nathan Levin potentially sewing sequins outside of this 'box'.
June 1 - July 2, 2005
Gallery @ 157
157 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parkwood
Tel: (011) 880 8529
Email: michele@artsource.co.za
Cel: (Michele) 083 447 8877
Cel: (Stephen) 073 233 1133
Hours: Tue - Sat 10am-4pm
