A trembling stroll in the city, covered by the rumbling of the street and the repetitive monologue of Les Levine hidden behind his dark glasses “I am an artist, I am not concerned by what you're doing” he repeats to those that call to him, or pass him, suspiciously or indifferently – all the passersby of a working-class neighbourhood in New York. In a monotonous tone, he stubbornly airs his artistic status, his provocative desire for isolation, for the division of a man of art in the face of reality.

This critical and political performance shows the arbitrary borders of the artistic world with respect to the world, in the face of poverty, the working-class masses and its real concerns. It also shows the solitude and strangeness of the creator, its undefined role, constantly in need of redefinition in relation to reality.

Under the guise of provocation and aggressivity, affirmation and exclamation of artistic narcissism, Les Levine questions the role of art in a fundamental way, in terms of its incommunicability within contemporary society. As a promoter of art that is accessible to all, he takes the existence of the public into account, physically approaching them in this action, while simultaneously enacting the caricature of the retiring artist. Between two smiles, he indicates on several occasions the ambiguous humour and distance that he himself takes from his own discourse.

Stéphanie Moisdon