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Ellen Levin is a New York-based artist-activist.
Ellen Levin, HELL. Courtesy of the artist.
As an artist, I have always had the need to do more than “just my art.” While living in Chicago, I became involved in community activism, working on political campaigns of those candidates who were progressive in their thinking about social justice, the environment, health care, etc. In 1984, I was one of the few whites to work on the Harold Washington for mayor campaign and was later slated as a delegate to the Democratic National Committee. This activism was to fuel my later work as an artist.
Soon after Washington’s election for mayor and his sudden death, I moved to New York City, where my installation work became both psychologically and politically driven. Sometimes the emphasis would be more personal and psychological as in the installations Gotcha, Revenge, and most recently Hell (a 2007 tribute to Leonard Cohen’s wonderful poetry and song.) At other times, my works are more political, as in a 1985 solo show at the then Albert Totah Gallery in SoHo titled AMERICA FOR SALE. The work would weave back and forth between the personal and psychological and the political for several years.
Then, as things became increasingly dire in this country, beginning with the Reagan administration agenda and the resulting Bush administration’s disasters, I could no longer do anything but political protest art. I realized, all of a sudden, that my work had to advocate change in this country. An installation I did last year in 2006, Year of the Dog/I mean Woman, focused on our media and advertising’s horrific objectification of women as I wanted to connect the abuse of women locally as well as globally
I also felt the need to protest what I see as our country’s vast commercialism, corporatization, and conspicuous consumption in the forms of real estate over-development, in our disregard for the environment, in our lack of universal health care, and even in the commercialization of art. Art has become just another investment, like buying stocks, bonds, or real estate. I decided that it was time to completely combine my art with my activism, thus using my art to protest societal ills. I also felt it wasn’t enough to just “make” political art, but that I had to continue with the community activism, which I had sporadically been involved in for years. I wanted to protest the idea that our life’s main focus is on materialism, money, and greed.
I also wanted other artists to come together to protest. That’s why I rented a garage in Chelsea in 2004 during the Republican National Committee (RNC,) called it RAW space, and curated a show PROTEST. It was a wonderful show, with artists coming together and contributing works in all media protesting Bush and his disastrous policies. In 2006, I once again had the opportunity to open in that same space (which had since become a “gallery” for a year.) I called the space “PROTEST Space” and curated very inclusive shows such as PROTEST: stencil it, America For Sale and Time’s Up, a benefit show for the activist/environmental group located on the Lower East Side, just to name a few.
With the intense commercialization of art, I have felt the need to stay outside of the system, making works of art that are not for sale. For me, doing pieces that are not for sale directly gives the message that everything in life is not for sale. At this point, I am only creating and exhibiting art for the streets, whether in the form of cards, such as AMERICA FOR SALE cards and T-shirts, and WOMEN FOR SALE cards, which I distribute all over New York City. I’ve recently begun apiece titled SCORCHED FEET about global warming which consists of electric orange footprints on the sidewalks when walking around Chelsea and other neighborhoods.
