Joel Shapiro & Jonathan Levine, Art Basel Miami Beach 2010

In this two part interview with sculptor Joel Shapiro and gallerist Jonathan Levine, host Jill Spalding also takes a look at what’s up at 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach. (34 minutes)

Joel Shapiro’s prolific career as a sculptor is almost as bounteous as strollers in Park Slope, with his total of roughly 130 exhibitions (one of his earliest was in AIR’s very own Clocktower Gallery). Spalding and he discuss his sculpture showing in Miami, made out of wood cast in bronze, plus work beyond the 2010 show. Spalding’s questions are the questions we’ve all been wondering about Shapiro’s work: Why no titles for the pieces? Why wood? And what’s with the influx of color in the recent work? Shapiro also discusses his airborne sculptures, and the 2001-A-Space-Odyssey-esque inspiration for them (he was interested in throwing wood up in the air in the 80s…).

Punk gallerist and curator Jonathan Levine has managed to create a space in the art world where less-mainstream artists can show their work—specifically the spray painting, punk and hip hop, skateboarding, Star Wars-watching rebels inspired by current popular culture. First opening a gallery in 2001 in New Hope PA, then moving to Philadelphia several years later, only to move his gallery to Chelsea in 2005, Levine has managed to establish a space for his artists’s work front and center while at the same time maintaining their anti-establishment spirit. Spalding and he discuss his involvement with the 2010 Art Basel—how much can he and Tony Goldman can do with free reign on two walls?—and his thoughts on corporate sponsorships, Shepard Fairey’s move to working with Deitch, and what Levine’s plans are for future projects.