Francene Levinson

Coming full circle back to my drawing and computer skills after a career as a sculptor, I currently create digital abstract minimalist paintings. The format I work with is manipulated original digital painting based on a magnetic algorithm which allows me to push, pull and stretch pixels to emphasize dynamic line, volume and color. Pushing the limitations of this digital medium to reveal its undiscovered potential is a challenge I enjoy. I strive to emphasize and control the unique characteristics of digital painting in a minimalist genre as a visual art medium based solely on electronic light. My original digital paintings are often my observations and visual commentaries as an artist-citizen of the world. Both the environment and human experience are, and have always been, sources of inspiration for my work. Each painting, an original digital manipulation of pixels, attempts to reveal the essence of my own feelings in minimalist geometric form as I experienced them during the last few years of political/social/and environmental life here in the United States of America. Every piece is an attempt to find beautiful combinations of the elements and principles of art. Hue, value, and composition are some tools that I use to mold the images into states of being. The titles are an important part of my visual story in which the minimalist visual images I create allow viewers to share a sense of common emotions and permit me to remain a creative explorer.

Francene Levinson, Portland, Oregon, digital artist, was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944. Her art education includes a BA Fine Art 1966, and MA, Art-Ed- 1969, Brooklyn College, N.Y.C. where she studied with Ad Reinhardt, and Philip Pearlstein, both of whom were prominent artists of their time. These artist-instructors significantly influenced her knowledge of color, form and composition. She taught art in New York and Florida. Her Florida art program included teaching computer fine art skills. When she first moved to Florida in 1986, she studied stone carving at Montoya Studios, Palm Beach, FL. This study would later influence her work in 3D modular paper sculpture.

Levinson’s paper sculptures have been exhibited at The Scripps Research Center, Jupiter, Florida; the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida; Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts; and Art Rom Gallery, Rome, Italy. Her many art awards include: The Mastermind Art Grant for South Florida; First Place Award at the Boca Raton Museum of Art; Best in Show at Delray Beach “On the Avenue;” and The Art Craft Award for Sculpture, Rosen Gallery. Her paper sculptures were represented by Paseo Originals Art Gallery, in Oklahoma City and currently by Portland Art Museum RSG Gallery, in Portland, Oregon. Her digital paintings have been published in Salann Magazine and exhibited at many galleries in Portland, Oregon. Francene enjoys creating original digital painting and pushing it to its full potential as an art medium.