Joel D. Levinson - Photography Books

Levinson 100, is composed of six museum sets drawn from four larger bodies of work: STILL LIFES California Flea Markets MASS MEDIA/Black Market AFTER EDEN (photograph made in Germany's English Gardens Park). This book is a mid-career retrospective limited to one hundred images representing twenty five years of photography. Over half the images in this book have never been published in book form.

STARSTRUCK is inspired by the approach of Expressionist, and Surrealist painters and the great retrospective museum exhibitions of their work that Levinson has enjoyed for decades throughout North America and Europe. The only rules followed in the construction of the Starstruck imagery, are those that provide for the unbridled expression of a theme, idea or feeling which in turn allows the suspension of all rules (utilizing montage, collage and partially painted areas..). The entire series, which contains fifty-eight images is composed of straight photographs, which Levinson made over decades, often combined with many various samples of NASA and Hubble Telescope imagery in public domain.

TUPAC Unseen, is comprised of thirty-six portraits Levinson made in 1993 and thirty-six original Artworks, each an individual homage to Tupac, for a total of seventy-two original works. It is the collection of Tupac photographs that illuminates his serious, meditative and friendly personality, with depth.

For three years in the 1970‘s (1975-77) and two years in the 1980’s (1985-86) Levinson photographed the Flea Markets throughout California, virtually every Saturday and Sunday. Of the numerous Flea Markets from San Diego to Crescent City, Levinson photographed more than forty of them. Each flea market had its own ambiance and characteristics. They proved to be unique entities unto themselves while at the same time, were extensions of their surrounding communities. The California Flea Markets are the place where Levinson experianced Blacks, Latinos, Whites and Asians (virtually all races) holding a casual camaraderie and carefree acceptance that was unique and inspiring.

From the years of 1983-1998, Levinson made eleven trips to Germany, spending approximately a month during each visit in Munich photographing the English Garden. Making friends and socializing with many of the people he met there, Levinson developed their confidence and trust, that allowed him to create the photographs in the After Eden Series. In 1983, Levinson photographed primarily with Black and White film. The Fifty-two photographs from this book were from the first two residencies in 1983.

This book/exhibition catalog, presents examples of three series of work: Mass Media, Still Life and California Flea Markets. Photographs by Joel D. Levinson - essays by: Derek Bennett, Shirley Burden, Helmut Gernsheim and Lou Stoumen.