Levi Hawken

BAYA HOUSE Vol. 2

Drawing on graffiti, skateboarding and Brutalism, Tāmaki Makaurau artist Levi Hawken works in concrete, a material he values for its texture, honesty and the traces of time it holds.

PHOTOGRAPHY: Felix Jackson

Discover Levi Hawken

Levi Hawken is a Tāmaki Makaurau artist shaped by skateboarding, graffiti and concrete. He began painting graffiti in the mid-1990s before turning to the studio, where his layered concrete sculptures draw on the city's gritty textures and Brutalist forms, playing with scale, light and shadow. 

For BAYA HOUSE, he presented a limited-edition collection in collaboration with Modern Shapes Gallery (Belgium) in black and brown mahogany and natural sycamore. The pieces are some of the last remaining in the editions and will never be made again.

Skateboarding, graffiti and Brutalism all show up in your work. How do those influences come through in form and surface?

They are all interconnected. Graffiti helped me find and evolve my forms. Brutalism taught me strength and structure. Skateboarding taught me a love of concrete and a physical relationship with it in its various shapes and sizes.

All of those things are connected in my sculpture. I leave it up to the viewer to see those things in my work for themselves.

“Graffiti helped me find and evolve my forms. Brutalism taught me strength and structure. Skateboarding taught me a love of concrete and a physical relationship with it in it’s various shapes and sizes. All of those things are connected in my sculpture.”

You often work in concrete, which has a reputation for being cold and heavy. What do you see in it that other people miss?

It’s also rough and usually a dull grey. I think it’s honest, functional and humble. With the mixed  textures and casting marks you see the story of its construction and as it ages you see it darken and begin to crumble to an artefact.

The story of time is captured in it. I also just like the pretty monotone shadow play to get.

Your pieces can sit in a home, an office or a gallery. Is there a space where you’ve seen your work look especially right?

Mid century homes are my favourite setting, I also love very decadent settings, the contrast between perfect and clean with rough and raw always pleases me.

Your pieces at BAYA HOUSE are a limited-edition collection with Modern Shapes Gallery in Belgium, in black and brown mahogany and natural sycamore. How did the collaboration come about, and what did moving into timber open up for your forms?

They reached out with the concept of making wooden editions of a selection of modern sculptors works. A way to  make work from sculptors all over the world in lighter medium making it more accessible to Europe and beyond. They are limited edition so one they are gone they are gone.

The Hallway Runner

Sandringham in Pecan