Harry Levene studied graphic design at St Martin’s School of Art (now UAL); exploring the relationship between words and images, an interest which continued thereafter as a visual artist. Starting with, but gradually moving away from typographical forms, he developed his own painting techniques combining traditional artists’ materials with others recycled or found.
Projects tend to develop through close observation or incorporation of discarded objects or seemingly insignificant locations, sometimes with photographic references. They may take months to gel in the mind’s eye before construction begins. Works depict the natural and supernatural, drawing on mythical and everyday sources. Where the immediate focus is on technical capability (How do I do this?), the literary element recedes to rest in a title, sufficient clue to the thematic purpose. Taking a serpentine path, as if coiling back on himself, lately verses emerged to be integrated with finished works or stand alone. Here the sea is a state of mind.
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