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The dark side of Levi van Veluw

The Monolith, 212-centimetre cube in wood and black ink, 2016. © Levi van Veluw
The Monolith, 212-centimetre cube in wood and black ink, 2016. © Levi van Veluw

Videos, installations, photographs, and drawings are used by Dutch artist Levi van Veluw to draw us into interior worlds representing places of worship. They are a way of “questioning the credibility of faith”.

This autumn, the Galerie Particulière, in Paris 3rd arrondissement, exhibited the work of a 32-year-old Dutch man, which questions architectural clichés used by some religions and the atomic era of science fiction (1950s), by way of installations, photographies, videos, sculptures and drawings. The contemplative dimension of his large-sized charcoal works are among the intriguing methods used by Levi van Veluw, who graduated for the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem in 2007. There are no human figures, just countless dark and troubling geometrical and monumental structures. The cavalier perspectives of these remarkably executed drawings draw the visitor in. But the heavy atmosphere of these very dark places compels us to be vigilant. The architectural installations offer the same sensations of attraction and suspicion. The titles of the pieces and the exhibition are not reassuring. Purify, Temple, Sanctuary, Oratory and Veneration, would make you think of some otherworld sect. What does the dark side of the work of Levi van Veluw conceal?

Read the full interview of the artist by Christophe Le Gac in AA 422, December 2017.

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