Summering on Nantucket since the early 1930’s, Reggie Levine left New York City in the 1960’s and moved permanently to the island where he opened the Main Street Gallery. Guided by his acuity and artistic sense, Levine transformed the Main Street Gallery into a critical force behind the Nantucket art scene that became an important venue for Nantucket artists.
Mr. Levine, an artist as well, began with figurative work and moved into abstraction in the early 1960’s. Though involved with the gallery he began to experiment in the 1970’s with mixed media, concentrating on collages and acrylics. Recently Levine’s work has moved into three dimensional assemblages exemplified by his series of Entertainments, which are extensions of his two dimensional studies. Working with found objects, these entertainments are highly manipulated to conform to compositional needs. Color and texture play a very important role. The constructions unfold with seemly unstructured spontaneity to arrive at work that is fresh, original and joyous.
As former president of the Nantucket Art’s Council, with stints as board member of the Artist Association of Nantucket, former president of the Theatre Workshop, former president of the Atheneum, and vice president of the Nantucket Historical Association, Reggie Levine is truely Nantucket’s Renaissance Man.
My garden in particular and the island in general have inspired and given me many ingredients to incorporate into my work. Obviously I have been moved by other artist’s work and in particular the Bauhaus and the early Russian Constructivists of the 1920’s.