bert leveille installations with light

starline 4th Fridays

October – "DREAMS"
April – "the END is the beginning"
May - "FRACTALS"
June/July – "WALL"
August – "ISOLATION"
September – "WATERFALL"

back to installations

DREAMS 2

"DREAMS"

Take a walk through BERT LEVEILLE's art installation, "DREAMS"... and/or nightmares. These snippets of reality found in fleeting, surreal images trigger emotions uniquely personal and universal.

"As I attempt to connect to various states of consciousness, I begin the artwork like a large watercolor on canvas. I find images in the flowing colors much like images in clouds. As I develop the painting with layers of acrylic paint, texture and detail, mindful beings emerge and stories unfold. Like dreams they are different for every person and change depending on circumstances and point of view."

Explore this 120 foot corridor lined with large mural sized paintings. Synchronized LED colored lighting changes some images causing them to disappear, reappear and even move. In this immersive installation we observe the dream, are in the dream, or become the dream.

This exhibition was supported by Starline 4th Friday Art Events. It was definitely a highlight of the 2023 season!

"the END is the beginning"

BERT LEVEILLE's art installation, “the END is the beginning” was the first of the new installation series at Starline during the 4th Friday art event. This installation deals with beginnings and endings. What may appear to be an end may be a beginning. LEVEILLE searches for kernels of hope amidst adversity; spirit surpassing challenges; connections, compassion and empathy rather than discord …
“The END is the Beginning”, was first seen at the Old CourtHouse Arts Center (OCHAC) in conjunction with the E-artgroup (now E*) exhibition "END" which LEVEILLE co-curated and facilitated.
It was then seen in Lake Geneva WI.

This first exhibition was supported by Starline 4th Friday Art Events, Chicago Women’s Caucus for Art (CWCA) and E-artgroup (E).

"FRACTALS"

Xreal — “X” stands for the unknown, so the art may be un-real, or super-real, or sur-real, or just x-real.

I found my art practice dysfunctional at the beginning of this pandemic. All was changing despite my will. I explored consciousness amidst reflections and fragments of covid, connection, quarantine, real and surreal.

I have experienced denial, acceptance, anger, hope and growth.

I am exploring consciousness in a seemingly unconscious world; reality in a world that seems increasingly unreal and yet more real or maybe surreal – Xreal. This unimaginable world-changing, reality-changing pandemic intensified my need to connect to mindfulness.

My vision of normal was shattered.

“Ocular Fracture” was first seen at the Old Courthouse Arts Center in the E-artgroup (now E*) group exhibition “Xre*al” which LEVEILLE co-curated and facilitated. The mobiles and video are Fractals.
“Xre*al” at the Old CourtHouse Arts Center (OCHAC)

"WALL"

These art screens are configured as a closed shape. Is it to keep something/someone hidden? To keep something/someone in?

Keep something/someone out? What is the nature or the purpose of this “wall”? Does our curiosity compel us to peer into it; thru it; around it; over it?

We can be walled off - physically, psychologically, emotionally, metaphorically. Behind the wall, in front of the wall; walls come up, walls are taken down.

Walls can be famous, infamous, benign — the Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall, the Trump Wall, garden walls, sound proofing walls...

When I created this installation “WALL”, I was exploring my desire to enter places that I can not enter; understand things I can not understand.

"ISOLATION"

This installation of clear vinyl panels with one figure speaks to the absurdity of our experiences during three years of isolation – to the barriers we have put between us. While we still belong to a society, some have felt separate from it, even excluded. How do we protect ourselves? and How do we protect others?

"WATERFALL"

"WATERFALL" is the first installation exploring LEVEILLE's ongoing exploration of waterfall portals. Colors replace water, the sounds of the 4th Friday event and music replace the sounds of water rushing. In the true spirit of LEVEILLE's “incubation, experimentation, installation, exhibition" studio; the 4th Friday attendees will be the first to see the beginnings of this new work.

Find out more about this journey.

the first white panel for the END is the beginning was premiered in bert leveille's incubation, exhibition, installation, experimentation studio at Starline

I want to thank the Starline 4th Friday facilitators, Lorette Dodt, Carrie Dodt and Josie Rivera for adding my installations as a feature for the event. To-date, due to covid, my small studio, which was a 'must see' experience during 4th Fridays Open Studios, has been viewed through the window only. This new feature opportunity allows me to once again, and on a larger scale, share my work with the 4th Friday patrons. And, thank you Brooks Bahnsen, Holly Clifford, Roseanne Maziarek and Victoria Senn for helping install and de-install. Thank you CWCA for your support. And, so very important, a special thank you to my patron, RKD!
— bert leveille