New York, NY - My Pet Ram is pleased to present Object Relations, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Michael Gac Levin, on view from November 15 to December 15, 2024.

Existence is too complex a concept to grasp in an instant. Entire modes of belief and study have been built around wrestling with the (dis)connect between our brains and the physical world we inhabit as human beings. Parsing the timeline of our lives through language, perception, and specific objects, we create personal narratives that help us to understand. Michael Gac Levin’s practice revolves around these relationships. Some are steadfast, some are tenuous, and some are transitory. The paintings in Object Relations speak to these exchanges and the ways in which we rectify internal questioning with external experiences. The symbolic figures that inhabit his sentimental realms act as touchstones for our own understanding.

Trying to make sense of it all starts early. The father of two young children, Levin observes that they consistently use play as a means of working through their daily questions of the world. “If they’ve been in something difficult, or hard, they’ll set up toys and repeat the play until it’s kind of unlocked and then they move on,” he explains. By manipulating objects in increasingly complex scenarios, the kids can process both internal emotions and external events in the real world. D.W. Winnicott’s psychoanalytic theories focused on the relationships children form with objects and important figures early in their lives. Of particular note is the idea of the ‘transitional object’, like a stuffed animal or a special blanket, that helps them navigate the world and their own feelings as they develop. Pulling the exhibition title from Winnicott’s landmark 1951 essay on the subject, Levin takes a more nuanced approach to visualizing interactions between objects, people, and the resulting experiences. 

In Object Relations, Levin draws upon Winnicott’s premise by placing cartoon-like depictions of an apple and a tree as figural stand-ins for different people or various competing ideas within a larger conversation. In each canvas, these recurring characters become activators of their cinematic surroundings. “I’d found myself making paintings of an apple and a tree in an evolving relationship. Like a married couple, or old friends, or courting partners,” he notes. “I always understand my work as being a way to process family life—myself in the context of my wife and kids, my parents.” The apple and the tree become characters in an ongoing drama. Placed within different environments, they become figures in a narrative that plays out across a variety of locales. Observing ancient art at the Met, talking about dogs in Central Park, or on a trip to Los Angeles, these protagonists help the artist and the viewer to make sense of the scene in open-ended ways. Though they are often ambiguous in their interactions and are usually seen in profile, the slight hints of anthropomorphism act as a segue between their objecthood and their existence in human roles.

Though intimate in nature, Levin’s paintings draw from a rich array of visual inspirations beyond his day-to-day. A nod to the highly symbolic language of Philip Guston and the wry style of Saul Steinberg’s drawings are instantly recognizable. Meanwhile, works like Destination Wedding allude to the sun-drenched pools and California light of David Hockney while pieces like Beach and Botanic Garden harness diverse palettes to create dramatically-lit settings reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s moody canvases. A frequent feeling of stillness recalls freeze-frames of ‘80s and ‘90s films like When Harry Met Sally that leverage the nostalgic backdrop of New York’s vibrant seasons to infuse each tableau with a picturesque richness at odds with the surreal nature of the subjects. Further still, one is reminded of early side-scrolling video games where horizontal layers build up an illusion of depth while abstracted speech bubbles, sometimes filled with words, other times pregnant with silence, add a linguistic element to the proceedings.

As we walk through life and actively merge our existences with those of the people around us, we begin to realize the similarities that we all share. Private, personal moments are mirrored in movies and TV shows, and mass-produced objects hold sentimental value. As children, we use toys and objects to feel safe and make sense of the world as it unfold before us. As adults, we seek this same solace in other people, places, and the memories we carry with us. Perhaps the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree after all.

Object Relations will be on view beginning Friday, November 15 through Sunday, December 15, 2024. The gallery is located at 48 Hester Street in the Lower East Side. Gallery hours are Thursday - Sunday from 12-6pm and by appointment. For more information, please email info@mypetram.com.

Michael Gac Levin was born in Los Angeles in 1984. He earned an MFA from Pratt Institute in 2015 and a BA from the University of Chicago in 2006. Yellow Brick Road, a solo exhibition of paintings and drawings, took place at Hexum Gallery, Montpelier, in 2023, followed in 2024 by Rainbow Chamber at Parts & Labor, San Antonio. Gac Levin has recently shown in group exhibitions at Deanna Evans Projects, New York; and Marvin Gardens, Brooklyn; as well as online with Taymour Grahne and Platform. His work has been featured in Artmaze Magazine and Maake Magazine, and he has completed special projects online for the Jewish Museum and SCREEN_.