Last Element

The Hole is proud to present our first show of 2022, an immersive debut solo exhibition by Gosha Levochkin, Last Element. Russian constructivist shapes, zips of electric current, swirls from his mother's pastries and computer game characters unite, clash and reverberate in Gosha's explosive compositions. For his first New York solo show this Moscow-born, Brooklyn-based artist has elaborated his signature repertoire of human comedy, infusing it with allusions to fire, water and mystical digital symbols in his acrylic on canvas paintings. An elaborate multi-screen, site-specific audio visual installation further immerses the viewer in Gosha's parallel reality. With each new body of work, Levochkin seeks to "turn up the volume by 10%" and here, the sound and electricity are scintillating. His jagged line work looks like his colors have been plugged in, and hot red orange and yellow can look like flames licking or neurons firing. There are mine carts that roll, nails, thorns and studs that fly, pipes and drains, levers and pulleys. Somewhere in each one are indeed some figures! Pared down to basic circles and shapes, these figures are linked as in a Rube Goldberg machine where each moving part triggers the next trap in a circuit of causality. Of course they are paintings and are not in any way moving, however, for the first time in this exhibition Gosha creates an audio visual animation to bring his imagery to life. Since his first job at an animation studio, Levochkin thinks fondly of early video-gaming and sees animation as the ultimate machine, a painting "coming together like a clock." Levochkin creates a work about water and interconnectivity buried in our gallery wall with Jonny Lee, a motion graphic artist from South Korea now based in NYC, and Jay Rothman, who had a background in early video game music to do the score. Gosha Levochkin (b. 1986 Moscow) grew up during the fall of the Soviet Union, then lived in LA and now New York City. Influential jobs at an animation studio, an art supply store and assisting artist Ben Jones, have all shaped his development and he began exhibiting work only a few years ago. With shows at KP Projects, Ojiri Gallery, The Garage Amsterdam and Over The Influence in Los Angeles, this emerging artist is starting to be more widely known.