The Hole is proud to present Signs From Above, a solo show by Gosha Levochkin, the artist's second with the gallery.

These eight new paintings were inspired by looking around, walking around, taking in all the different centuries of style the streets of New York have to offer. While perusing the gallery exhibition there are some interesting surprises if you look up as well. Absorbing both Art Deco buildings and their new neighbors on his daily commute to his Navy Yard studio, Levochkin also depicts daily rituals like pour-over coffees, subway rides, or piles of jeans.

In this new body of work Gosha gives us a vintage vision of the future, a branch in the timeline not taken. With his recognizable electric linework, where the brush vibrates and shading is stippled, he limns guitars, squirrels, and ambiguous machines. In liver-red, olive, orange, and pink, Gosha forges ahead with a digitally-influenced expressionist technique. Instead of hard-edge screen-like painting we see the liberated pre-computing language of Chicago Imagists, references to Roger Brown and Karl Wirsum, or one of his favorite elder states-people, Peter Saul.

This timeline gives us fluidity in form and imagery from Russian constructivist characters more than Photoshop, especially hidden in One Of Many and Constantly Growing. Trains traverse Tokyo to New York: in approaching these paintings, we see freedom, movement, revolution, and sound, stars with a guitar handle in Finding Fault, trains and cars forging forward, and adrenaline in color.

When approaching this new body of work, I’m always telling myself 'what is freedom in your painting, each painting should have a moment of freedom.

(Gosha Levochkin)

Gosha Levochkin (b. 1986 Moscow) grew up during the fall of the Soviet Union. Moving from Moscow to Hollywood, Gosha spent a decade-plus in Los Angeles prior to moving to New York City where he now lives and teaches. Over the years, jobs at an animation studio, an art supply store, and as an assistant to artist Ben Jones have all shaped his practice. Levochkin’s recent solo exhibitions include Opera Portal at Allouche Benias in Athens, Greece 2023; Last Element at The Hole, New York 2022; Secret Button at OTI, Los Angeles, 2021 and (synthetic reality) at OTI, Hong Kong in 2020. His work has been shown at art fairs internationally including The Armory Show in New York, Kiaf in Seoul, Zona Maco in Mexico City, Art SG in Singapore, and Enter Art Fair in Copenhagen.