Matthew Levine - Paintings

About the artist

I have been painting Westport-Compo landscapes for 30 years. I have studied watercolor and oil painting with my father, the caricaturist and painter David Levine, and with Aaron Shikler, Daniel Schwartz, Burt Silverman and Harvey Dinnerstein.

All of my paintings refer to a person, place, or thing I’ve encountered, so in that sense I am a representational painter. I paint locations near me, and at different times of the year, because that’s what I know and have come to appreciate over time. I am not interested in exact representation, but more in conveying the feeling of being alive to witness the beauty of the world, and in the simultaneous richness of other artists’ images that seem somehow awakened in me in the presence of an object. For example, when I am painting at Compo Beach, I am also seeing what my father saw at Coney Island, or what Constable saw at Hampstead Heath, or Homer in Bermuda, etc. That’s how a painting starts for me.

From there I become involved in exploring the possibilities of the medium itself (watercolor, oil, pastel, pencil) and in overcoming my own limitations as a user of the medium. In that way, mistakes become opportunities, and I pursue the image rather than the thing it’s based on. I return to a site (or an object or a model) many times to get at the heart of my perception. I also sketch or take photographs to record the more fleeting moments of light that heighten my perception, and I refer to those recordings later in the painting process. Finally, I react to only what the painting gives me and seems to need in order to satisfy me. In a certain sense, I am never finished with a painting or with a subject, I just move on to my next obsession!

My work has been shown at The Rowayton Art Center, at Picture This and at other galleries in Connecticut. I am also a Marketing and Communications consultant in the nonprofit sector. I live in Westport with my wife, Patricia, my son, Noah (who visits on occasion), and our dog, Maceo.

Matthew Levine

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

A Beach Reader, acrylic, 2022

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Gray's Creek Disturbance 2020

One Evening at Compo 2020

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Experimenting with acrylics.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Developing a fondness for foliage

My latest commission: a house portrait.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

The Kiss

My recent painting, "The Kiss," is posted on Spark, the collaboration web site (getsparked.org) where I work with the writer Robert Haydon Jones. The version on Spark is saturated with more color than the original, below. You have to read the story, "Audrey," in order to understand the references in the painting. You can see all of our collaborations if you read the Spark archives.

Monday, February 24, 2014

"Walter Bernard & Matthew Levine: Recent Watercolors and Oils"

Thanks to everyone who came to the February 2014 Atlantic Gallery show "Walter Bernard & Matthew Levine: Recent Watercolors and Oils." It was a milestone event for me -- having a show in NYC. It was deeply gratifying to see people from so many different periods of my life. Having Aaron, Burt and Dan there at the same time was a thrill. A special thanks to my wife, Patricia, who baked amazing things for both receptions, and to Marc Nadel, who came in from Vermont and even helped me pack my paintings on the last day. Most of all, thanks to Walter for inviting me to show with him.

The Discovery

Friday, March 23, 2012

More figures