Peter Leventhal is a storyteller.\u00a0 Having had the fortune to be born and raised in New York City with all of its stimulation and access to the greatest artwork of the Western World, Leventhal soaked in every opportunity he was given to learn from the old masters and to mingle with the new.\u00a0 Primarily a self-taught artist, Leventhal credits the hours he spent in the New York Public Library, which houses drawings of some of the world\u2019s greatest masters where he would copy and learn from their every mark, for the basis of his art\u2019s education.<\/p>\n
One of the early painters who peaked Leventhal\u2019s interest was Raoul Dufy, a French Fauvist painter.\u00a0 It has been nearly 40 years since Leventhal has been inspired by and has conversely interpreted some of Dufy\u2019s philosophies into his own work.\u00a0 Most recently, he finds that as his physical ability to hold a paintbrush in his dominant hand is no longer an option due to the Parkinson\u2019s, he is now able to more fully embrace Dufy\u2019s concept of allowing color to override the edge and follow into the adjoining figure and not be confined to a spatial context.\u00a0 This has created more dynamic activity in his newest body of work, which is markedly more abstract than anything Leventhal has previously painted. This marked evolution also includes broader brush strokes and a generalization of the light\/dark contrast of the composition as well as a particularization of the color.\u00a0 The outcome is a series of vivid paintings that reference common Leventhal themes \u2013 love, lust, envy, exhibitionism, artistry – and characters – the sculptor, etcher, dice player and accordionist \u2013 while offering the viewer a new glimpse into the evolution of his work.<\/p>\n
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