The multidisciplinary practice of Les Levine encompasses video, performance, publications, and prints, as well as billboard and poster works in public space. His critical engagement with the phenomena and functions of mass media, along with his early experimental use of video, established him as a pioneer of media art. In the 1960s, Levine gained recognition with large-scale installations, environments, and series he referred to as Disposable Art. From the 1970s onward, his focus shifted increasingly to electronic media and public space. In 1981, he launched his first mass media campaign, We Are Not Afraid. It consisted of 6,000 billboards placed for one month across the entire New York City subway system. Many other international campaigns followed. His new n.b.k. Edition, Fearless (2025), features statements of nonviolent resistance: Have No Fear, Make No Threat, and Offer No Defense. The motif of the raised hand references Renaissance painting, where it symbolized the upward gaze toward heaven. In the context of contemporary cybernetics, however, the gesture signifies “halt” or “stop.” Conceived as a triptych, the three images create an ambiguous episodic space that invites reflection.

Les Levine (*1935 in Dublin, lives and works in New York) has shown his work in over 100 solo exhibitions worldwide and participated in documenta (1977, 1987) and the Venice Biennale (2001). He has taught at several universities in the US and Canada, and received National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships in 1974 and 1980. In 1970, he founded the Museum of Mott Art Inc., a consulting organization for the arts and related professions in New York, where he continues to serve as president. His work is held in numerous international museum collections, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Centre Pompidou, Paris; and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.