Steven J. Levin - (b. 1964) is classical realist oil painter living and working in Stillwater, Minnesota. He grew up painting alongside his father—a commercial artist—and knew he wanted to be a painter early on. After high school he enrolled in the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and then the Atelier LeSueur in Excelsior, Minnesota (a descendant of the 19th century Boston School ateliers)—where the training was more in line with what Levin was drawn to as an emerging artist. Levin remained at the atelier as a student for five years and then a teacher for seven more years. He completed his studies with an extended stay in England to join the copyist program at London’s National Gallery.

Although he enjoyed working in The Boston School tradition, Levin started to draw inspiration from artists with richer pallets such as Vermeer and Edward Hopper. Levin’s reputation as a colorist is strong and getting stronger with each passing year. His compositions range from surrealistic still lifes to multifigure scenes to landscapes—all done with precision and careful consideration of color, light, tone and composition. His “visual pun” paintings have delighted collectors and gallerists for years. This includes his “Plumage” series (which plays with the formal similarities of hats and bird’s nests), his “Books and Butterflies” series, and museum series (depicting paintings within paintings).

Levin has exhibited widely and taken part in significant group and solo exhibitions in New York, London, San Francisco, Beijing, and Barcelona. He has been featured on the cover of American Artist Magazine and has been the recipient of numerous awards and prizes in national competitions including the American Society of Portrait Artists, the Allied Artists of America, the Portrait Institute, American Artist's Magazine, the Artist’s Magazine, the Oil Painters of America and the American Artists Professional League. Most recently, he is the First Price recipient for the ARC 2016 Salon in the still life category.

Artist Statement

Essentially, my paintings are about beauty. Whether it be in my still life work, where I begin with a consideration of just the abstract elements of form and color, and then try to build interest with the careful arrangement of objects, or in the interior scenes which are usually about light, atmosphere, and mood, beauty is always the first subject.

In some of my work I enjoy a kind of visual pun, as in the still life series called Plumage, where the juxtaposition of hats and bird’s nests are so similar in shape and with each having the element of feathers. The paintings of my museum series are undertaken with an implied wink at the depiction of paintings within paintings.

Though I see painting as first and foremost a craft, it isn’t only that. Painting is about projecting that craft through a personality, memory and emotion in the attempt to capture an intangible thing which speaks in a language unavailable to any other mode of expression.

Awards

2017 Honorable Mention, Art Renewal Center

2017 Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic Award, Salmagundi Club, Non-Members
Juried Exhibition
2016 1st Place, Still Life, Art Renewal Center

2014 Purchase Award, Art Renewal Center

2010 Honorable Mention, Art Renewal Center

2007 Honorable Mention, Art Renewal Center

2000 President’s Award, American Society of Portrait Artists

2000 People’s Choice Award, American Society of Portrait Artists

2000 John R. Grabach Memorial Award, American Artist Professional League

1999 Allied Artist of America Award

1998 Lelia Garden Sawyer Award, Salmagundi Club, Non-Members Juried Exhibition

1996 Third Prize, The Portrait Institute

1996 Second Prize, The Artist’s Magazine

1995 Grumbacher Gold Medal Award, Oil Painters of America

1994 Third Prize, Akron Society of Artists

1993 Leila Garden Sawyer Award, American Artists Professional League

1992 John S. Dole Memorial Award, American Artists Professional League

1992 AAA Award, Academic Artists Association

Solo Exhibitions

• 2013, 2018, The Minneapolis Club, Minneapolis, MN
• 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2014 John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2008, Arcadia Gallery, New York, NY
• 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, White Oak Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
• 1994, Minnesota River Studios Gallery, Burnsville, MN
• 1991, 1993, Meadow Creek Galleries, Edina, MN

Group Exhibitions

• 2023 GEMS of the Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2023 Musings, Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2023 Hartley Invitational, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
• 2022-23 Gems, Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2022 Hartley Invitational, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
• 2022 Lover’s Eye, Pence Gallery, Davis, CA
• 2021 Clever Clarity, Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2020 Compte Rendu, Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2020 As Our World Turns, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2020 Painting Minnesota, Flanders Art Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
• 2019 Small Works: Great Joy!, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2019 Contemporary Realism, Cavalier Gallery, Greenwich, CT
• 2019 Valuing Portraiture, Nine Approaches of Twin Cities Artists, Flanders Art Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
• 2018/19 ARC International Salon, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, Sotheby’s Los Angeles, CA, Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Barcelona, Spain
• 2018 Realism: Then & Now, Cavalier Gallery, New York, NY
• 2017ARC Visions, Arcadia Contemporary Gallery, Culver City, CA
• 2017 Salmagundi Club Annual Non-Members Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
• 2016 Still Life That Moves You, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2016 Landscapes, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2015/16 Figures and Interiors, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2015/16 ARC International Salon, Museu Europeu d’Art Modern, Barcelona, Spain, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
• 2014 78th Annual Midyear Show, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
• 2014 Drawings, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2013 Figures, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2013 American Masters Show, Palm Avenue Fine Art, Sarasota, FL
• 2012/13 Contemporary American Realism, World Art Museum, Beijing, China Art Museum, Shanghai, China
• 2012 New Works in Still Life, Larson, Levin and Levin, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2012Still Life & Trompe L’Oeil, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2011 Cityscapes, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2010 A Contemporary View of Women Reading, Forbes Gallery, New York, NY
• 2009 Following the Artistic Conscience, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2007, 2008 Small Wonders Exhibition, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2006 Slow Painting, A Deliberate Renaissance, Oglethorpe University Art Museum, Atlanta,GA
• 2006 Interiors, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2005 Valentines, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2004 Three Artists, Grenning Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY
• 2003 Re-Presenting Representation IV, Arnot Art Museum, Elmira, NY
• 2003 Exposed: The Nude, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2002 A.S.C.R. Guild Show, Tree’s Place Gallery, Orleans, MA
• 2002 Still Lifes, Florals Interiors, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2002 International Masters of Fine Art, Greenhouse Gallery, San Antonio, TX
• 2002 Focus on The Figure, Erlich Gallery, Marblehead, MA
• 2001 Homage To, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2001 A.S.C.R. Exhibition, Newington-Cropsey Foundation, Hastings-On-Hudson, NY
• 2000 Still Lifes, Florals and Trompe-l’Oeil, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 2000 American Society of Portrait Artists Exhibition, New York, NY
• 1999 Drawings, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 1999 86th Annual Exhibition, Alllied Artists of America, National Arts Club, New York, NY
• 1998 Still Lifes and Landscapes, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 1997-98 The Legacy Lives, Hillsdale College, MI
• 1997 Royal Portrait Society, London, England
• 1996 Oil Painters of America, San Antonio, TX
• 1996 The Legacy Lives, Lever House, New York, NY
• 1996 The Portrait Institute, New York, NY
• 1996 Traditions, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 1995 Oil Painters of America, Chicago, IL
• 1995 Ten Towering Talents, John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA
• 1993, 1994, 1996 Akron Society of Artists, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
• 1991, 1993, 1999, 2000 American Artists Professional League, Salmagundi Club, New York, NY
• 1990/91 The Academic Dialogue, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN
• 1988 Cannon Building, Washington, D. C.
• 1987 Heritage Art Gallery Auction, Alexandria, VA