Mexican Moment

Jonathan Levine Projects is committed to new and cutting edge art. Our roots go back to 1995 when LeVine's life-long participation in punk and underground music grew into a curatorial experiment with the visual culture that surrounded him. In 2005, he opened Jonathan LeVine Gallery in the Chelsea district of New York City and had great success nurturing the careers of many celebrated artists. In 2017, the gallery relocated to Jersey City with a newfound focus on community and collaboration. The newly named Jonathan LeVine Projects aims to create engaging programs and interesting partnerships beyond the traditional gallery space. With an eye towards honoring and connecting with the history and context of Post War art, Jonathan LeVine Projects explores the terrain of the high/low and everything in between. Saner’s works are heavily influenced by traditional Mexican customs and folklore. For Primitivo, the artist created lively portraits of characters wearing Nahuale masks reminiscent of those found on the streets of Mexico and according to legend, have the power to transform human beings into animals. Drawing from the visual culture of his everyday life, his paintings are a celebration of the local environment they originate from. In Primitivo, Saner looks at our rapid urban development and questions the shift away from the natural world. Is modern wo/man really more sophisticated than our ancestors who were physically dependent on the environment? Saner asks the question: “We talk about primitive man as this tough guy, living in an elementary way only focused on basic needs. Modern man no longer has to hunt or provide in such a rudimentary way and yet more than ever we are faced with poverty and war. So are we really living in such a highly developed world?” He poses this question in brightly colored compositions on canvas, paper and wood, in hopes that they will generate change and guide viewers towards a mindset of oneness, as opposed to otherness. Use of liquid ink as a material to create art, typically by applying it to a surface like paper with a pen or brush, allowing artists to produce drawings, paintings, or calligraphy by utilizing its fluidity and color properties to form images or text; essentially, it's a versatile tool for creating artwork through the application of colored liquid