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Nissan Leviathan
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As a computer graphics artist I work in front of my computers’ screens, employing a variety of 2D and 3D digital graphics programs as my brushes, my palettes of paints as well as my cameras, with which I create my artworks. These are usually about fantastic realities, as if to follow Valerio Adami’s assertion “Before a painting one must see something other than what one knows already. Associations and significances mingle together beyond the palette.”
My creations usually feature uncanny compositions. They cannot exist in our real world but only within my own mind, where they are conceived, designed, fashioned, textured, painted and finally photographed. In addition, my artworks are also characterized by their dazzling colors and razor-sharp details, thus trying to reach a final result which is stunning and vibrant fine art creation. I usually create my artworks by first producing a short animated footage around the painting's theme and then choosing one frame, which I later turn to be the final still image artwork.
‘Saudade’, Chromaluxe Aluminum Dye Sublimation, 100 X 150 cm (40 X 60 inches), 2020.
Saudade is part of the Portuguese culture, a term that describes a deep emotional and nostalgic state of mind that has become a “Portuguese way of life” since the 13th century: a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wistful longing for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of what is now gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence - as it is said in Portuguese, a strong desire to ‘matar as saudades’ (kill the saudades).
Moreover, Saudade often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be back again. It is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places, or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, and well-being, which now trigger the senses and make one experience the pain of separation from those joyous sensations. The closest English term to Saudade is desiderium.
As soon as I realized that our world is under the Covid-19 pandemic attack with its accompanying isolation lockdowns and consequent precarity, the Saudade sentiment engulfed me. The present artwork –Saudade - is one of a few inevitable creations that I made during this period.
The isolation imposed on all of humanity due to the COVID-19 pandemic attack is reflected, among other things, in the fact that we are not able to travel freely as we were used to before the pandemic. Each of us must remain in his country, in his city and sometimes even at home, subject to health directions dictated by the authorities. The present artwork humbly tries to reflect the resulting state and feeling of isolation and lack of freedom.
For this artwork – Saudade - I have chosen to use the Chromaluxe aluminum dye sublimation printing technique. It is lightweight and a visually stunning, vibrant and durable fine art print.
The Chromaluxe prints are produced using a technology called sublimation, where unique dyes are infused in a heat press directly into specially coated aluminum sheets, resulting in outstanding print quality. In addition, these Chromaluxe prints are flame, water, scratch and fade resistant.
The printed artwork size is 100 X 150 X 2.4 cm.
‘Nighthawks Diner, Homage to Edward Hopper’, Chromaluxe Aluminum Dye Sublimation, 80 X 120 cm (32 X 48 inches), 2019.
'Nighthawks' is probably one of the best-known works of Edward Hopper, a renowned 20th century American painter whose works frequently reflected his view of the contemporary loneliness and indifference life, prevailing in both urban and rural America. 'Nighthawks' which was painted in 1942, shows 3 customers sitting at the counter of an all-night diner, and is characterized by the harsh green, yellow and red/brown electric lights. These set the diner apart from the dark night outside, enhancing the mood and subtle emotion.
'Nighthawks Diner, Homage to Edward Hopper' humbly tries to somewhat promote the gloomy 'Nighthawks' diner through its glowing neon sign, while employing the basic colors of the painting.
In spite of its seemingly bright and lively glowing colors, it seems that the artwork still manages to preserve the somber and alienating atmosphere of the diner, apparently ‘thanks’ to the huge, dark and shabby brick wall.
For this artwork - Nighthawks Diner, Homage to Edward Hopper - I have chosen to use the Chromaluxe dye sublimation aluminum printing technique. It is lightweight and a visually stunning, vibrant and durable fine art print.
The Chromaluxe prints are produced using a technology called sublimation, where unique dyes are infused in a heat press directly into specially coated aluminum sheets, resulting in outstanding print quality. In addition, these Chromaluxe prints are flame, water, scratch and fade resistant.
The printed artwork size is 80 X 120 X 2.4 cm.
Bio:
Nissan Leviathan
Born in Tel-Aviv, Israel, Nissan Leviathan enjoyed a successful life-time career in the Israeli high-tech industry, initially as a marketer, involved in exporting high-end technologies to the world and later as an investor.
At the same time, he was completely immersed in contemporary art in general and in pop art in particular, initially as a collector and later on as an artist. The triggering seeds for his passion to pop art are his joy of life as well as his fascination with colors, light and reflections.
An avid Francophile, he spent many of his adult years in France. During his stay in Paris, where two of his four children were born, Nissan Leviathan got acquainted with many artists with whom he socialized and whose works he acquired. Among these are Erró, Monory, Adami, Combas, César, Klasen and Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, to mention a few. During these years, the artist also fell in love with the art of glass blowing. He joined a Parisian glass blowing studio as a trainee and spent time in Seattle to learn this ancient art from Dale Chihuly.
In 1999, Nissan Leviathan returned to Israel with his family where, for the first time in his life, he completely devoted himself to art. For about fifteen years, he was engaged in sculpting monumental outdoor self-glowing sculptures, made of neon and colored plexiglass. In recent years, probably thanks to his background with computers, the artist specialized in a selection of 2D and 3D software programs and evolved into being a productive digital artist.
Today, Nissan Leviathan works in front of his computers’ screens, employing a variety of digital graphics programs as his brushes, his palettes of paints as well as his cameras, with which he creates his artworks. These colorful artworks are usually about Fantastic Reality, as if to follow Valerio Adami’s assertion “Before a painting one must see something other than what one knows already. Associations and significances mingle together beyond the palette.” These Fantastic Realities cannot exist in our real world but only within the artist's own mind, where they are conceived, designed, fashioned, textured, painted and finally photographed.
Nissan Leviathan usually creates his artworks by first producing a short animated footage around the painting's theme, and then choosing one frame which later on is turned to be the final still artwork. The artist, who is involved in the community daily life, finds himself working on issues which are on the national and global agenda. Thus, for example, Lip Service calls for the need to end the Arms Race, Sweet LOVE Blue humbly tries to support the world hunger eradication campaign, Fever Pitch, Homage to Jerry Lee Lewis strives to attract global attention to the Global Warming crisis and Miss Universe supports world gender equality, to mention only a few.
As these lines are written, the artist is working on new creations that are all about the COVID-19 virus that is driving the entire world crazy. It is hoped that by the deadline for the submission, a cure will be found.
Website https://www.leviathan.gallery/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/nissanleviathan/
SaatchiArt: https://www.saatchiart.com/nissanleviathan
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NissanLeviathanArt
