ART BY STEPHANIE lEVIN

Stephanie Levin is an artist that does not fit in the confines of any artistic movements. Her art is an expression of the color and light sometimes amiss in her personal life.

Born in Detroit, MI during the decline of General Motors and the devastation it left. Ravaging the community cloaked in shame and despair. Then at 14 moving to San Clemente, CA drastically changing her surroundings, engulfing her with the sweet smell of the ocean with cotton candy sunsets and the seemingly slow moving time with the tide. It was a stark contrast leaving her with the feeling of someone outside looking in.

Being an artist was never a thought, she always gravitated to musicians, poets and painters but never saw herself as one. So much so she threw herself into gymnastics as a way to cope with the invading teen angst and anyway to ease the feeling of not belonging. Excelling yet never fully devoted, as if there was this gnawing feeling there was more for her, surrounded by a crowd, yet standing alone. That is until the day she was met with 4 blank walls, the blank walls that would ignite a feeling she never thought she could feel.

Stephanie moved to LA at 25 to coach gymnastics, she found herself broke and with an emptiness unable to fill with her coaching. It was in that moment she stared at those blank walls and saw them as a canvas. A way to express the color she felt lacking within. She went out, bought three tubes of paint and started what would be a now 12 year voyage of expression through watercolor, acrylic, and everything and anything that she could work with.

“Everything opposed to the color wheel.”

We can all relate to being two people in one, the person that puts a smile on and make niceties and then the person that has their struggles. Stephanie uses the brilliance of color to convey those emotions that struggle to stay awhile. Learning through her mistakes that most of the times create her most riveting pieces.

“My paintings have many layers, the first layer is what I think I know and the last layer is what I already knew and forgot.”

Most artists portray their pain, the torture of the mind and life’s suffering. Stephanie chooses to express the emotion that are unattainable due to the struggles of the human condition. Why highlight suffering when we can dance with the light, with the color, and the fantasy of happiness.

Stephanie currently resides in San Diego, CA and is an Ambassador for Shopvida.com. She is featured on the west and east coast. Here is a list where she is featured:

The New York Art Center Gallery 104 located in Manhattan, NY

The Laguna Art Gallery located in Laguna Beach, CA

DiTorr located in Hillcrest, CA

The D Gallery located in Palm Desert, CA