We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
Brussels Inspiration Bureau
Social Links
Instagram 56K Followers
Facebook 57K Followers
Twitter 10K Followers
  • Our Story
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Contact
56K
57K
10K
We Love Brussels
We Love Brussels
  • Urban Life
    • Urban Jungle
    • Photo Stories
    • But Why?
    • Smart City
    • City Branding
    • Seniors
    • Real Estate
  • Culture & Creativity
    • New Economy
    • Local Makers & Shakers
    • Illustrations
    • Fashion City
  • Discover & Meet
    • Travel & Tourism news
    • Foodie guide
  • Event Diary
  • Europolitan Trends
  • Community news
  • Building the platform
  • Community of city admirers
  • Partnerships & Collaborations
  • Get in Touch
Become our contributor. Join the team!

Sign up for our newsletter

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

  • culture & creativity
  • Events diary

‘IMMENSITIES’ – a window to the world by Tamar Levi

  • Editorial Team
  • October 4, 2020
  • 4 minute read

The ever-bustling art scene in Brussels is having a come-back after the pandemic and one of the exhibitions not to miss is most definitely ‘IMMENSITIES” by the artist Tamar Levi, up in Art Base (29 rue des Sables Zandstraat, 1000 Bruxelles) until the 10th of October. The collection of around twenty paintings on her travels from Greece to Belgium was painted during the lockdown in Belgium, with the goal to create a window to the world for the viewer and evoke the feeling of freedom. On the occasion of the exhibition and intrigued by Tamar’s life and work, we spoke with the artist who first described to us more how it came to exhibition itself.

‘Due to the pandemic, studio spaces were closed so I painted these twenty canvases during lockdown in my apartment with my family right on top of me. The close quarters inspired a response to the pandemic in my art: I made the landscapes more expansive, and more of an escape view, to create more windows in people’s homes. That’s why the collection is called IMMENSITIES, it’s the big idea of freedom through my painted landscapes, freedom for the viewer’s minds and souls to expand into wide open spaces.’

And indeed, when you look at the pieces in the exhibition, you have this feeling of expansion and freedom, achieved not only by the lines of the strokes but also the fact that the painting doesn’t end with a frame – it flows over it and includes it in itself, breaking all the boundaries and creating a unique sculptural depth for the viewer.

‘My original idea of painting on the frame aims to draw the viewer into the scene, in a sculptural way. This provides the art collector with immediacy for hanging. The bespoke frames provide deep dimensionality. This allows the viewer to step into a scene. Another window for their home.’

And to make this new window view as beautiful as possible, Tamar spent a lot of time carefully choosing the right frames for the paintings to have the perfect match.

‘To prepare for this collection I hunted for the biggest and most beautiful antique frames from markets and auction houses in Athens, Greece and Brussels, Belgium. Then I affixed and painted both canvases and frame simultaneously.’

Tamar is already known to the Brussels audience through her several solo exhibitions and illustrations of books for children, with this exhibition being special for her as it build ups on all the work so far. Having always done drawings in her sketchbook and later illustrations for children’s books, she was now able to go back to those sketchbooks and find the original ideas behind the shapes for this painting collection.

EU Parliament Feminist Forum Art Show by Tamar Levi

‘I have always done drawings I normally illustrate in pen and ink in a minimalist zen continuous line style, however this collection is unusual for me; it was created with a bespoke mix of bright colours. I think of it as being in the Fauvist tradition of colour practice. These were worked on for months in colour theory research and applied as mixed media with oil pastels to create a cohesion in the collection and a sense of many dimensions in the image. The oil pastel on top of acrylic creates a link between my illustration work and my painting work.’

Immensities-Solo-Show-Art-Base-Gallery_Photo-by-Iris-Haidau

Growing up in Alaska, Tamar never expected to be based at the heart of European politics. She fell in love with a Greek man, whose career brought them here and then she fell in love with the city as well, with Brussels parks being now one of her main motifs.

‘I just cannot stop painting these parks. Is it some kind of secret that Brussels has over seventy parks and they are gorgeous and characterful and joyous too?’

Artist Tamar Levi and her sketchbook in Brussels (c)Anja Strelec

But Tamar’s fascination with Brussels doesn’t stop there. She sees Brussels as a buffet of nature and culture, exploring the city, museums and all aspects of art.

‘So far I have been exploring the comic book culture, which fits right in with my previous work and current graphic novel project. But I haven’t even started the adventure of discovering the dance culture, which I’m told is a very rich treasure here. I’m sure the talent on the dance scene will inspire some dance-related series of paintings…’

These are just some of the things that inspire this talented and energetic artist whose drive to create keeps moving her forward at all times, so we were very excited to hear about her upcoming projects and exhibitions.

‘My continuous line portraits of women, which were displayed with the European Parliament’s Feminist Forum, will be on exhibit again, this time at the upcoming TEDx conference here in Brussels. I’m really excited to share these portraits with a wider audience. Also, there’s this graphic novel I’ve been working on for 15 years now which I’m illustrating all in one line (but it has to be the right line!). Two years ago I performed the first chapter, all in one line, with live music to accompany the performance art, and so perhaps it’s time to work on the second chapter’s live performance?’

In the near future, Tamar will also start artistic workshops which we are sure will be a success. And if you would like to meet the artist, visit the gallery this Sunday, 4 October, between 2 and 6 pm and have a first-hand experience, enjoying the views Tamar created.

Tamar Levi, portrait by Iris Haidau

Interview by Iva Galovic. You can follow Iva on instagram for more interesting Brussels stories.

Total
30
Shares
Like 30
Tweet 0
Share 0
Share 0
Like 0
Share 0
Editorial Team

WeLoveBrussels is a digital platform focusing on the city life, culture, creativity, events, amazing places, lifestyle, urban development trends and simple beauty around us.

You May Also Like
View Post
  • culture & creativity
  • Events diary

Le Chat Déambule, new expo in Brussels Park

  • Priyanka Roy Banerjee
  • March 10, 2023
View Post
  • community
  • culture & creativity
  • travel & tourism

City game Linea Recta challenge: Strategy and discovery in Marolles & Sablon

  • Editorial Team
  • March 8, 2023
View Post
  • community
  • culture & creativity
  • travel & tourism

Unlock the secrets of chocolate making: Private workshop for groups in Brussels

  • Editorial Team
  • March 8, 2023
Brussels Inspiration Bureau

Exploring the best of Brussels since 2014.

Discover more!
Our columnists & bloggers:
Aleksandra Rowicka
Addicted to cultural life of Brussels, fashion photography and dark…
Aris Setya
Indonesian living in Brussels. Passionate about photography. Love…
Boro Milovic
Boro is the founder and editor-in-chief of WeLoveBrussels. His interests…
Dorka Demeter
Dorka is a Hungarian expat living in Brussels for 10 years. Admirer of…
Emilia Valbum
Expat from Copenhagen living in Brussels. EU + global politics nerd on…
Fadi Dalati
A urologist by profession, and a photographer by passion. I try to…
Julia Zelle
Half-Italian, half-German girl who has just moved to Bruxelles.…
Karolina
Karolina is a blogger sharing stories on European cities, local…
kateinbrussels
I am Kate. I've lived in Brussels for 16 years and am still discovering…
Meredith @ellesbxl
Meredith Geldof is a Flemish girl who moved to Brussels and enjoys…
Tireless_Traveler
Nath is born and raised in Brussels but with a serious case of…
Download our free guide!
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Incentives & events in Brussels:
Missed our printed edition?
Press Club Brussels Europe
As seen in
25 most popular instagram accounts in Belgium

Views & opinions expressed across this website are solely that of the authors and contributors themselves and may not reflect the position of WeLoveBrussels. The editorial or publisher of WeLoveBrussels cannot be held responsible for expressed opinions or unintended errors and oversights if any.

Get our periodical updates. Zero spam.

Instagram 56K Followers
Facebook 57K Followers
Twitter 10K Followers
WeLoveBrussels
  • Our story & more
  • Get in Touch
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal notice
Brussels Inspiration Bureau. Your guide to city life, culture, business, travel, Brussels events agenda & cultural diplomacy.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT