Sima Levin, an artist, designer, illustrator, painter, draftsman, and engraver, conveys through paper light and spirit in their philosophical and physical meaning. Levin’s personal stories and love of nature are woven together in the laborious work of weeks, sometimes months, of perforating paper with a needle.
In retrospect the choice of the needle as a drawing tool is not accidental. Levin’s mother was a seamstress who prevented young Sima from touching needles lest she be injured. “I will not stick to the needle, the sleeping beauty,” Sima would say. However, the burst of creativity and the search for another way to draw and paint brought her back to the needle.
Beginning with images of flowers, plants, insects and elements from nature, Levin forms sketches through the use of different techniques until they reach the perforation of paper that creates a final narrative. “I research and examine those around me in great detail and give special attention to every grain, stone, branch and leaf. The tactile contact with the soil and plants is very important to me,” she says.
With the help of the needle, Sima injures the paper and creates a fascinating visual, sensory, intellectual and textual story, influenced by her inner reality, past memories, longings, fears and hopes.
From a distance, viewers see a large white surface. However, as one gets closer, dozens of details are revealed. Zooming out, the small holes lose their meaning within the story and become a collection of individual nodes leading the wind and light. Spirit and light have a deep physical and spiritual meaning in Sima’s presented stories that constitute thinking and creation in every detail of her life.
Born and raised in Chisinau, Moldova, Levin immigrated to Israel in 1974. For many years she ran an independent graphic design studio called “Graphics”. In the late 1980s, she illustrated children and youth books with the Keter publishing house. Sima is engaged in stabilizer, drawing, figurative painting and specializes in printing and sculpture techniques. Today she lives and works in Afula, located in Israel’s Northern Jezreel Valley. Levin has participated in dozens of group exhibitions and quite a few solo exhibitions.
The exhibition is located at the Periscope Gallery, 176 Ben Yehuda St., Tel Aviv.
Exhibition opening date: Friday, March 26th, 2021, closing date: April 24th
Curator: Ilana Carmeli Lenner
- Levin’s website: www.simalevin.com
- Facebook: sima.levin
