The debate around design and art continues…but what is its point? They are different and they are the same. How we define them matters little or not at all. ‘I believe in a total blending of the boundaries including art, architecture, sound and design.’ – Simon de Pury (Chairman Phillips de Purry & Company) Nicole Levenberg’s local fine art training at the Wits School of Arts has served her well as she transitioned seamlessly into the field of textile design. Levenberg can be described as part of the “boomerang” generation, having recently returned from her training at the world-renowned Central Saint Martins in order to establish herself and the Levenberg brand in her hometown ofJohannesburg. Soon thereafter the South African design industry began to take notice. Her collaboration with Anatomy Design was recently showcased at the Southern Guild exhibition at the Museum of African Design, for example, a fact that wasn't lost on the local design media in which she has been featured too. That is what one would expect from a designer who cut her teeth at internships at the likes of Alexander McQueen, Liberty and Anthropologie. Levenberg’s first exhibition at NIROXprojects continues her developing relationship with the Nirox team, which begun in 2013 when she designed and manufactured a series of large geometric fabric panels that served as the backdrop to a Reuben Rieffel pop-up restaurant at the NIROX Sculpture Park. This interdisciplinary approach illustrates Levenberg’s preference for creating bespoke pieces that are tailored to specific contexts, where the client’s functional demands on her designs are still able to blur the boundary between décor and art. Levenberg has not exhibited her portfolio collectively since her graduation collection shown in London. She sees this exhibition at NIROXprojects as a moment in which to both consolidate and expand on her aesthetic and functional design concerns. The full scope of Levenberg’s experimental and mixed media works (which includes digital printing, silk-screening, pigment hand-painting and biro mark-making techniques) will be on display, from initial drawings via giant fabric panels all the way through to their application in the form of custom furniture and accessories designed in collaboration with a selection of other local design talents such as Dokter and Misses… Choosing to ‘style’ rather than ‘curate’ the exhibition has been a novel and admittedly less stuffy approach devised jointly by Levenberg and her sometime collaborator Dean van Aswegen, a décor editor at Condé Nast’s House&Garden magazine.

Text By: Murray Kruger – Performer, artist and friend…Johannesburg April 2014

Installation view | Nicole Levenberg | SAMPLE (I-VIII) | NIROXprojects | 2014

Installation view | Nicole Levenberg | SAMPLE (I-VIII) | NIROXprojects | 2014

Installation view with Lollipop Lamps by Dokter and Misses | Nicole Levenberg | SAMPLE (I-VIII) | NIROXprojects | 2014

Installation view with Lollipop Lamps by Dokter and Misses | Nicole Levenberg | SAMPLE (I-VIII) | NIROXprojects | 2014

SAMPLE I Digitally printed with hand-painting on brushed cotton | 296 x 150cm | 2014 | R18 000.00 (Incl VAT) fabric panel only

Mixed media drawing on Fabriano 280gsm | 82 x 62,5cm | R 7 000.00 (Incl VAT) (framed)

R 23 000.00 for fabric panel and framed drawing. (Incl VAT)

SAMPLE IIDigitally printed with hand-painting on cotton twill | 296 x 150cm | 2014 | R 18 000.00 (incl VAT) fabric panel only

Mixed media drawing on Fabriano 280gsm | 82 x 62,5cm | R 7 000.00 (Incl VAT) (framed)

R 23 000.00 for fabric panel and framed drawing. (Incl VAT)

SAMPLE IIIAcrylic, hand-painted on linen | 296 x 140cm | 2014 | R 17 000.00 (Incl VAT)

SAMPLE IVDigitally printed on cotton twill | 296 x 150cm | 2014 | R 16 000.00 (incl VAT)

Screenprint on Fabriano 280gsm | Edition of 5 | In a range of four colours each in an edition of 5 | 82 x 62,5cm | 2014 R 5000 (Incl VAT) (framed) | R 3430 (incl VAT) (unframed) R 20 000.00 for fabric panel and screenprint (framed)

SAMPLE V Digitally printed with hand-painting on brushed cotton | 296 x 147cm | 2014 | 18 000.00 (Incl VAT) SOLD

SAMPLE VI Acrylic, hand painted on linen | 296 x 141cm | 2014 | R 16 000.00 (Incl VAT)

SAMPLE VIIDigitally printed with drawing on cotton twill | 296 x 150cm | 2014 | R 18 000.00 (Incl VAT)

SAMPLE VIIIAcrylic, hand painted on linen | 296 x 142cm | 2014 | R 16 000.00 (Incl VAT)

Installation view with SG Chair by Anatomy Design in collaboration with Nicole Levenberg for Southern Guild 2013Solid American Walnut, brass and hand-printed fabric designed by Nicole Levenberg112cm (wide) 83cm (deep) | 43cm (high) (background) Colour Study I - X | Acrylic on Fabriano 280gsm | 105 x 74cm (framed) | 2014 | each R 8 000 (incl VAT)

Colour Study VI | Acrylic on Fabriano 280gsm | 105 x 74cm (framed) | 2014 | R 8 000 (incl VAT)

Colour Study VII | Acrylic on Fabriano 280gsm | 105 x 74cm (framed) | 2014 | R 8 000 (incl VAT)

Colour Study VIII | Acrylic on Fabriano 280gsm | 105 x 74cm (framed) | 2014 | R 8 000 (incl VAT)

(installation view) Landscape | Screenprint on Fabriano 280gsm | Edition of 10 | 84 x 62 (framed) | 2014R 5000 (framed) | R3430 (unframed) (incl VAT)

Installation view of GEOMETRIC | Acrylic, hand-painted on linen | 2013 | R 18 000 (Incl VAT)

NIROXprojects | 264 Fox Street | Arts on Main | MABONENG PRECINCTJohannesburg | www.niroxarts

Catalogue layout and design by Neil Nieuwoudt

Photography by Annalize Nel T: +27 079 084 7477E: annalizenel@hotmail.com