Rollaway #5 on Black & White Cross

About the Photographer

Levine, Michael

American, b. 1952

In the late 1970s artist Michael Levine used sculpture and photography in combination to examine the transformation of a three-dimensional form into a two-dimensional image. For projects such as Wildwalls and Rollaways, Levine would first create a large sculptural installation in his studio, typically using commonplace building materials such as wooden beams, tar paper, stones, and ducting. Upon its completion he would photograph the construction in color, making a series of images. When presenting his work Levine preferred to show both the original sculptural elements and the resulting photographs, providing the viewer with different experiences of the object in question. One could move around the object itself in the exhibition space, and also look at the photographic representations of it, which have a fixed perspective and stand as independent visual compositions in their own right.

Levine studied photography at Ithaca College, where he completed a BA in 1975, while also attending Rochester Institute of Technology as an exchange student (1973-75). He completed an MFA at Florida State University in 1977.