(Levan Mindiashvili)
a spell
November 10–December 17, 2023
Closing ritual Sunday, December 17, 3–5 PM
Artist discussion moderated by kevin gotkin, 4 PM
dedicated to the loving memory of Rachel Pollack (1945–2023), who reignited my passion for “images of special intensity that act as powerful gateways to the sacred.”*
a spell is a queer tale & invocation of transformation amidst the rise of oppressive powers. against the backdrop of a calm sunset reflected on the Empire State Building, filmed on an iPhone during the COVID lockdown with a nostalgic and bitter-sweet Super 8 filter as an Instagram story (May 13, 2020), and the alarms played every day of the same month at 7 PM in support of essential workers.
a spell is an invitation to reflect on necessary endings—on a personal, collective, and planetary scale. out of this deep sense of closure, urgent changes and fresh beginnings emerge. a spell offers a space for grief and respite—inseparable companions of this journey and will culminate in a collective ritual of release at the closing of the exhibition.
a spell is cast through a projection on a latex screen and is composed of personal recordings, interviews sourced online, and sounds by Rachel Pollack, Taylor Deupree & Marcus Fischer, Arca, Clarice Lispector, Klaus Biesenbach, 7038634357, hannah baer, SOPHIE, MikeQ feat. Jay Karan, p. staff, Shygirl, Ruby Zarsky, bell hooks, Ariel Zetina, Sinéad O’Connor, Tamriko Chokhonelidze, and Alice Miller. as a continuous narrative, this assemblage gives shape to an intergenerational storyline of personal becoming(s), creating a collective body, liberated & radicalized, a body bent on defying binary systems and their heteropatriarchal nucleus.
witnessing a spell are zoomorphic hybrid deities. the sculptural bodies of various primal materials—handmade, sourced, and found—wood, stone, plasma, glass, protein, flowers, steel, to name a few. they stand for queer resilience and spiritual awakening, guiding into uncharted futures of “the full realization of the potential of being.”**
Artist discussion with Turley Gallery exhibiting artist LEVANI (Levan Mindiashvili) with guest moderators kevin gotkin and Bekka Vitarelle on Sunday, December 17, 2023. Video by Zach Durocher.
Levani, xvi. the tower, 2023, (video still) digital video with sound projected on latex screen, duration 20:20 minutes, screen 180 x 108 inches
for the summer of beautiful sunsets
for those born under the blazing sun
the summer
of the born underground
the summer of the system shutdown
of zir
under the crumbling sky
of cutting paternal roots
&
grafting into zir body of love
for the summers of beautiful sunsets
Levani, iii. the goddexx, 2023, antique saddle, deer antlers, recycled wood, aqua neon, horn with brass embellishments, stainless steel laboratory hardware and tubes, borosilicate glass separatory funnel, vinyl tubing, brass chain, transformer, LED tube lights, plexiglass, and plywood, 52 x 38.75 x 51.75 inches
with gratitude “to all those who reached the most alarmingly unsuspected regions within me, all those prophets of the present and who have foretold me to myself.”***
with hope that this show can do a little bit the same for someone else.
a very special Thank You to Simon Gamgebeli for mastering the sound, and to David Rachveli and Papuna Dabrundashvili for their continuous support.
Levani
Lenapehoking (New York)
October 19, 2023
*Rachel Pollack, The Shining Tribe Tarot
**Rachel Pollack, Transgender Magic and the Tarot, Pro Talk series, Arts University Plymouth
***Clarice Lispector, The Hour of the Star
Levani, a spell: xvi. the tower, 2023
Levani photographed by Nina Badauri
(Levan Mindiashvili)
Levani (Levan Mindiashvili, b. Tbilisi, Georgia. ze, zir) is a transdisciplinary artist based in New York. Idea-driven and research-based, zir practice materializes as immersive installations, sculptures, neons, images, sound, collective dinners, and dance parties. Through Queer ecology, neuroscience, microbiology, cosmology, and spiritual practices, Levani attends to questions of identity & world-building, imagining shifts from binary taxonomies to radical transformations and planetary justice.
Levani graduated with an MFA from Buenos Aires National University of Arts (2010) and a BFA from Tbilisi State Academy of Arts (2003). Ze has exhibited extensively at the institutions and venues at the Georgian National Museum, the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Socrates Sculpture Park, National Art Museum of China, EFA Project Space, BRIC Biennial, Tartu Art Museum, Yerevan Folk Arts Museum, Cuchifritos Gallery + Project Space, Artists Alliance Inc., Kunsthalle Tbilisi, Marisa Newman Projects, NARS Foundation, Silk Museum, Fridman Gallery, and more.
Levani is a recipient of the Artists Alliance Inc. LES studio residency program; Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship; Peter S. Reed Foundation Grant; NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program fellowship; Creative Time X Summit Grant; AIM Fellowship of the Bronx Museum of the Arts; NARS Foundation Studio Residency; and the National Endowments for the Arts. Zir’s work has been reviewed in publications such as frieze, Art in America, The Brooklyn Rail, HYPERALLERGIC, The Art Newspaper, BOMB, ART PAPERS, ArtAsiaPacific, PIN–UP, HuffPost, OSMOS, and more.
Levani’s work is in the public collections of the Georgian National Museum and the Silk Museum, both in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the National Art Museum of China in Beijing.
Installation photography by Spencer House Studio