Ra’anan Levy’s Metaphysical Space

Abstract

Between November 2006 and January 2007 the Musée Maillol in Paris held the first French retrospective of the painter Ra’anan Levy that featured a new series of studies of empty rooms. These studies along with other series on street drains and sinks evidenced an impressive emotional resonance. Perhaps influenced by his Syrian heritage, Israeli upbringing, Italian and British art training, and Paris residency, several critics have assumed the paintings reflect Levy’s rootless state. One has even suggested a precise Freudian-based interpretation of the empty rooms and paintings of pigment bottles and other art supplies. However, the undeniable existential depth of these atmospheric representational paintings rather seems to reflect a metaphysical space with a perhaps symbolic interest in empty human spaces and light.