Levi Eleven

USA

I am Levi Eleven. I was born on the Great Plains and have lived all across the United States but call Albuquerque, New Mexico home.

I attended SVA in Manhattan and SFAI in San Francisco. I dropped out of these prestigious schools and spent years struggling with bipolar disorder until finding a medication that is effective. I am finally stable enough to consistently produce my work.

My father was an antique dealer and when he passed I came into possession of a large number of old magazines and books. I didn't have the room to store them all but I wanted to keep a piece of them and him. Traditional collage had always been a hobby outside of painting and digital design. Found-object assembly had been my father's hobby and I began using his old magazines as a way to connect with and remember him. 

I've left behind my other work and found my true medium.

I am using the current political and social atmosphere in the United States as inspiration. 

The source images were originally created through the lens of commercial control, the white gaze and to promote a version of the “American Dream” that in truth is imaginary, capricious, and serves only the few. 

By cutting apart and recombining them I'm attempting to satirize, critique or dismantle, reassemble and reimagine it into a better version of that dream. Using my artistic freedom to escape into another landscape, another world where everyone is truly free.