Event 3: Ellen Levy Artist Talk

For my third and final event, I attend the Zoom presentation by Ellen Levy. I joined in curiosity about who she was and what art she focused on. Quickly, through her presentation, it was clear she was a media artist with her discussion of pop culture, and she focused her research on the relationship between art and science. She brought about much of the idea of the third culture, and contrary to Snow's beginning impression, it showed  "intellectuals" working off of scientists' works(Snow 4). 

Zoom Confirmation

 

Compared to the first events, I felt much more informed about the discussion and actually felt I could follow along with the presentation. Levy had a heavy focus on D’Arcy Thompson and how much art was being inspired by him (Levy). After deeper research, I found how Thompson made the "foundations" of mathematical biology that would lead to a mass amount of artworks inspired by this perspective(Jarron).

Levy's "On Growth and Form Slide"

Levy focused on many artists, but her prime focus was on Richard Hamilton (Levy). In my opinion, the presentation started on Hamilton to set the foundation to help people understand scientific art and moved to introduce Thompson. It all connected before Levy started presenting other artists so the audience, like myself, would follow how the relationship between art and science developed through her research. 

One of Levy's " Richard Hamilton Slide"

An exciting focus was Levy's discussion of the Thompson-inspired exhibit "From Forces to Forms," which included a piece from Professor Vesna (Levy). The exhibit focuses on evolution as a model(Levy). Before presenting Professor Vesna's works, I was very interested in how the art in the exhibit presents evolution and what perspective it would be seen in. Professor Vesna's piece shows the effects of human sound pollution in a dimensional model (Levy). With further research, I learned the " Nosie Aquarium" was based on plankton and the marine life food chain (Vesna).

https://www.pratt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/From_Forces_To_Forms_brochure-1.pdf

Overall, the presentation gave an in-depth view of how scientists like D'Arcy Thompson have affected the art world. Most importantly, the topics will help when the final essay asks for examples of how today's artists use scientific works. The main takeaway was how important perspective shapes the history of society and art. The presentation was quick and straightforward, showing how intertwined art and science are, which led me to give the presentation a 9/10 rating. I recommend people follow Levy's works to understand how much the art world is changing. 

References

Jarron, Matthew. "A Sketch of the Universe: The Artistic Influence of D'Arcy Thompson." University of Dundee Museum Services. Art UK, https://artuk.org/discover/curations/a-sketch-of-the-universe-the-artistic-influence-of-darcy-thompson. 

Levy, Ellen K., curator. "From Forces to Forms." Pratt Manhattan Gallery, 1 Feb.–27 Apr. 2022. https://www.pratt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/From_Forces_To_Forms_brochure-1.pdf.

Levy, Ellen K. "Ellen Levy Artist Talk." Hosted by Victoria Vesna, 8 May 2024.

Snow, Charles Percy. The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution. Cambridge University Press, 1959.

Vesna, Victoria. "Noise Aquarium 2016 - Present (Personal Project)." Victoria Vesna Official Website. https://victoriavesnac.com/index.php?p=projects&item=2.