{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/cv4bn9xp77/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Jonathan Lev Oral History"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis interview is part of \"In The Artist's Studio,\" which is part of the virtual exhibition  \u003ca href=\"https://www.licartists.org/lic-present\"\u003eLIC: Present\u003c/a\u003e. In this interview, Jonathan Lev talks about his artistic career, particularly his shift in focus from oil paintings to charcoal drawings over the last five years. Jonathan discusses his journey from growing up in Israel to backpacking in Europe and ultimately moving to New York City in the early in 1980s. He also discusses his experiences living and working in Long Island City, the arts community in the neighborhood, the effects of gentrification on Long Island City artists, and his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source Metadata URI"]},"value":{"en":["http://digitalarchives.queenslibrary.org/search/browse/45867"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2020-10-30 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Video"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Jonathan Lev (Interviewee)","Jo-Ann Wong (Interviewer)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Source"]},"value":{"en":["2020 Interview conducted by Jo-Ann Wong as part of \"In The Artist's Studio,\" part of the virtual exhibition LIC: Present."]}},{"label":{"en":["Coverage"]},"value":{"en":["Late 1950s - 2020 (temporal)","Long Island City, Queens, NY; New York, NY; Tel Aviv, Israel; Amsterdam, Netherlands (spatial)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis interview is part of \"In The Artist's Studio,\" which is part of the virtual exhibition\u0026nbsp; \u003ca href=\"https://www.licartists.org/lic-present\"\u003eLIC: Present\u003c/a\u003e. In this interview, Jonathan Lev talks about his artistic career, particularly his shift in focus from oil paintings to charcoal drawings over the last five years. Jonathan discusses his journey from growing up in Israel to backpacking in Europe and ultimately moving to New York City in the early in 1980s. He also discusses his experiences living and working in Long Island City, the arts community in the neighborhood, the effects of gentrification on Long Island City artists, and his experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eCC BY-NC-SA Contact digitalarchives@queenslibrary.org for research and reproduction requests.\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Queens Public Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/010/original/Aviary_QPLlogo_192x192.png?1578574261","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/739/small/thumbnail_110739_1632944549.jpg?1632930149","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - LIC_Present_Jonathan_Lev.mp4"]},"duration":3255.42398,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/110/739/small/thumbnail_110739_1632944549.jpg?1632930149","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-queenslibrary.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/110/739/original/LIC_Present_Jonathan_Lev.mp4?1615913234","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":3255.42398,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Full Transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Hello everyone who is watching today's interview. Thank you so much for joining us. I am here with Jonathan Lev, who is an artist who both lives and works in Long Island City. So we're just gonna just jump straight into it. First, the big question, what type of art do you create and what medium do you work in?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=20.0,42.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Well, I am a painter and I've been painting most of my life, but for the last five, about five-and-a-half years, I'm concentrating on charcoals, large-scale charcoals on paper.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=42.0,55.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Awesome. And so, as we can see, there is a charcoal one behind you. If you don't mind me asking, how big is it?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=55.0,63.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: This one is eight foot by about four and a half.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=63.0,68.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: That is very large. And so I definitely do have a quick question about that, is in terms of when you're choosing the size for your pieces, how come you tend to go into that very large scale format for them?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=68.0,87.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Yeah. So most of, all my work, is really painting, like, people. I have to paint people. Just, anything else kind of—I can go into it, but it's not really working. So it's really figurative in that form. I want the charcoals to be an object, not a drawing. So they need to stand out. They need to be right in front of you. This is why I usually choose life-size. And I like to have, like, to be from very bottom, from the feet all the way to the head. And then when you hang them it's, hopefully, will catch your field of vision and will have the impact that way.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=87.0,129.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And to go off of that, to talk about the impact when you see these, I'm a big fan of portraiture, and you also render them so beautifully in charcoal, which for myself I think it's a very difficult medium. So, I'm always so impressed when I see your pieces. And so I wanted to ask, in terms of when you're doing these portraits, what is integral in capturing someone's spirit in the piece that you're making?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=129.0,156.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Wow, that's—I'm not looking for spirit. I'm looking for details. I mean, spirit is such an ethereal kind of a word, so you can't really catch the spirit. But you can catch sort of what this person is, and you can see either softness or you can see warmth in the eye, as you can see tightness in the body or tightness in the face. And that's really, technically, you have to catch it and you have to—I have to catch it and I have to concentrate on that. And by doing that, I guess people say it's the essence. I just look at it in details. Every face is different. And the way we hold our face, we are uneven. Some the right side is not the same as the left side. Some people squint more on one side, more than the other.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=156.0,203.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So when you look at it, it's not just like a schematic human, it's that specific person. And this is what I'm trying to get, trying to get into those details. And it's strange because for me, I'm not like a really detail oriented person, as a lot of people can tell you, but when it comes to this work, it's actually harder work for me because I have to really get into it. And when I work, I also am more, or I feel more natural when I do the more expressive, and more expression is kind of a handling of the charcoals, which will be the more—the stronger lines, the really kind of gestural handling of the charcoal. And then I go back into it and I do the softer stuff, the more details and work on those tiny little details that we discussed earlier.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=203.0,258.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And that creates sort of a both tension and the balance between the two handling and the—between the handling and also the kind of tension that the drawing itself makes because it's not even. It's, you know, it's there, it's got both of them. And what I'm trying to do is sort of balance it so it's perfect, for me, you know. How it works for the other people, I'm not sure. But, you know, I kinda had developed a sense of how I want it to look, and it's hard work for me to get there, but I'll spend a lot of time trying to do that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=258.0,298.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so to continue off of that, what would you say is one of your biggest inspirations as an artist?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=298.0,308.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Hmm. It's changed through the years. It changed from me handling paint before when I was working with oils to the charcoals. So, the first thing I did when I changed into charcoals—and the reason I changed is because I had a studio for a long time, and then my son was born, and I needed to get a roommate. And the timing was kind of off all the time, preparing to work in paint, in oil, and then cleaning up after and actually having to pack everything to the side was a little, became a little too complicated. So I wanted to get into something which is easy, not easier, but easier to handle the logistics of going, starting to work and ending to work will be a lot faster and easier. And that's when I moved, and then slowly but surely I fell in love with this form, with this medium, and I started working—and, I'm sorry, can you, what is it again that you, the point that you were trying to ask me? Because I went on a tangent here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=308.0,368.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: But it was a very good tangent. But in terms of kind of what inspires you as an artist.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=368.0,375.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Right. So I, because I handled painting different than I handled the drawings, I needed to simplify it. I wanted to get it to be like the objects that I told you [unclear]. I needed to change my way of working, and this is what I have done. And the first thing that I did is, like, my neighborhood was changing. It was already, like, 1999 and the first building started, when I started, and the first building started coming up. And I started it, and then after my son was born, [unclear] there was a long period of time which I did not work, period. It was sort of terrible for me, but there's, like, necessity of life with a newborn, having to earn an income, et cetera, et cetera. So when I started again, I was like, [exhales] what's going on here?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=375.0,421.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And the neighborhood was changing rapidly. Started changing—it was, like, already two thousand and I would say 2010, 10, 11, 12, when I really started working again seriously. And I've developed a lot of friendships in the area, like, okay, well, let's start with the people around me, you know, just to kind of warm up into it. And I started doing the series that I called LICentric, LIC-entric, and basically just documenting people around me, you know, as the neighborhood was changing. And it became an ongoing situation. I started with really small—I started with, like, just portraits, you know, 36 inches or so. And I did a bunch of—I made a lot of those. And then I became, as I was getting more interested in the medium, I just wanted to start challenging myself.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=421.0,475.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So I went up in size. And then I developed sort of the concept of having a full body in space, which at the time I used to like to hang away from the wall so it's an object. Not like a window that you look into, but like a [unclear] object in front of you. But—so that body of work started developing and I, like, really got into it. You know, I really started to work more and more and more [unclear] my neighbors. And at the time we started losing a lot of artists in here [because we] started losing space and—a lot, but not all, thank God. And I just wanted to document everybody as the neighborhood is changing, and the old people were starting to pass away, and the younger people either—some stopped working altogether, some moved to a different neighborhood. And it became sort of a obsession to get as much as possible and coordinated with that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=475.0,532.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: At the same time, other stuff started happening around us in the world. So I started maybe commenting, not directly, which is what I'm doing right now with this body of work that I've started later. But it's—I still stayed with the charcoal because it's impactful, for me, it's impactful [unclear]. It gets the effect that I wanted to get. And [unclear]. So—but I always continue, I always go back to the LICentric series because it's just people around me. And this is sort of a joy of people when they look at themselves. And it's not commissioned work. It's people that I know, it's people that I like, mostly people that I really respect their work. Which is—it's like [uses air quotes] love, you know, but it's people that catch my attention not because of them being whoever, but because just the work they do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=532.0,590.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And one thing I look at, just, I look at them working. Either it's musicians who are playing, even somebody who's organizing art stuff and nonstop working [unclear] one of the guys that I drew, or other painters that, like, standing by the work and looking at it. They're looking at it. Alright, you can see the mind working, and that's what I find attractive. And that's basically how I want to do it. That's how I started doing that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=590.0,615.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And I love the LICentric series because I saw a couple of them online and I was like, oh, I know that person. Oh, I know that person. And it's really fun to—and you do them so well. It's—they're amazing. And so I wanted to ask with the LICentric series, was there—do you have maybe a memorable story with any of those specific portraits or one that stands out when you talk about the series?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=615.0,642.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: You know, it's stuff specific as much as like I described to you before. And somebody, when I do a large scale—well, yes, I do actually, come to think about it. I made a drawing of my neighbor downstairs. His name is Kyle. He was living downstairs, he's moved ever since, and he was, like, a really kind of—unapologetic about himself. He was a nice guy. I was about to call him, yiddish, mensch. You know, he just wanted to do the right thing. It's like, if somebody that came from the Midwest and New York hasn't corrupted him yet [laughter]. He was so clean, clean, clear-minded, and he's like [unclear], but physically he was, like, a hairy dude, always without a shirt, with his hairy back and beard from here to China. You know, and he was great. You know, everything was just fantastic.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=642.0,689.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And we did the opening of the LICentric and I had the big drawing of him on his bicycle. And his mom came. And just the way—it was her reaction, more than his. You know, she was like, oh, she melted, you know? And she was so happy, and he was so proud to show her that he found a community, because he was a community guy. It's amazing, somebody who just moved in and all of a sudden he walks in the street and everybody says hi to him and everybody knows his name. You know, it's like—I was talking to somebody who came to see my work [unclear], oh, this is Kyle. I was like, how do you know him? So that was it, you know, the way he was, like, so proud to show his mom that he's part of our community. You know, for me, it was just great, fantastic to look at.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=689.0,742.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: You know, and it's exactly what it is [unclear] kind of like about what's going on with LICentric, which actually I collaborated with the Orestes Gonzalez and two other and photographers. So it was my drawings, and it was Orestes Gonzalez, it was Jesse Winter, and it was—it'll come back to me. Tony Vaccaro, of course. Which is also, like, you know, I had to draw him. And I think he was one of the original LICentric drawings because he's such an institution. He's, like, well known. Everybody knows him. He knows everybody. He has history, which is incredible. You know, he photographed anybody who was anybody from World War II up to the eighties and nineties.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=742.0,793.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So, this is—really what it did is it kinda crystallized [unclear] it's a community. And we have created—you know, as I was mourning the losing of the community and, like, the gentrification and the money and the way that the neighborhood physically changed, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, and the losing of the mom and pops for the big names, all the gentrification issues that are always there, I realized that there is still a community, a vibrant community in here. And I wanted to, A, salute them, and document them at the same time.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=793.0,836.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so speaking about community, you hit on a point that I did want to cover. Specifically, what led you to come to work and live in Long Island City? And also, as you were saying, what have been changes that you have seen, like maybe specific changes, and especially with the gentrification question, when did you start noticing that it was becoming a big, big part that was happening in the area?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=836.0,867.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: 1990 [laughs], before I even moved here. Before 1990, actually. I did what they call the migration of the artists since I came here. I was in Soho. I was in Lower East—I was in the East Village, Lower East Side. Lower East Side, I moved to Williamsburg. And then when I got gentrified out of Williamsburg, I was already involved with a woman who is now my wife and she's always—so basically there were two possible moves at the time for a lot of my friends. And as we were discussing it, one of them was to Red Hook and—which, prices were cheaper—and the other one was right here in Long Island City, which, prices were cheaper, inexpensive let's call it [laughs], and it was plentiful. There was so much abandoned, or not abandoned but, like, so much manufacturing spaces in here that you could get pretty inexpensively, you know, and rent a space for pretty decent pay and work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=867.0,926.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: You know, being able to work, because this is really what the artists' issue right now, especially artists who do need a space to work. You know, a lot of people can work from home right now, if you're doing multimedia, if you're doing anything [that you can] handle on your computer. But if you need to draw or paint, I mean, you can do it from home, but once you have a family, it gets a little complicated. And especially when you live in a New York City shoe box.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=926.0,956.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: 'Cause I always say, space is [unclear] [crosstalk]—","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=956.0,963.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: —[crosstalk] because my wife is habitually late. And we were so close. The 7 was here, the E was here. Her family is in Long Island. We can hop in the Long Island Expressway and drive to see her family. It was just convenient. But it started from—I got here because of gentrification. And I found the difference—it was enormous difference in here, between here and Williamsburg. And I couldn't put my finger on it for a long time until one friend of mine told me—and I'm not trashing Williamsburg here—but he said, you know, in here you have older, it was older artists working in their studio. There was no really party scene or, you know, like, cafes. We didn't really have much, many places to hang out until much later. So it wasn't really centers, it was—I mean a big center or a place where everybody can come and see each other [unclear], it was, like, a whole lot of artists, a lot of them not even from Long Island City, who came here and worked. You know, it was, like, serious.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=963.0,1024.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And I totally fell in love with it because, you know, it made me serious. 'Cause I was a little younger and being out there and partying—not partying but, like, hanging out and talking about your work with other people was very important and, you know, seeing other people and stuff. And then you come here and you're working, you know, and then you're going home [laughs]. Your workplace, I'm not saying that there was nothing, but it was not as pronounced and it wasn't like that much of it. And I really—it made me more serious to tell you the truth. It's like, I became more serious working here in Long Island City than I was before.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1024.0,1066.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so then in terms of the neighborhood where you said, you know, when you came to Long Island City that there, for instance, like in terms of businesses in the area, there weren't as many party scenes and things like that, do you feel that has changed now in 2020 in terms of just how the community has shaped since then?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1066.0,1090.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Yeah, it changed, but now I don't care. I'm older [laughs]. I'm sure there are places that I'm sure people are doing whatever. I'm involved in here with the Plaxall Gallery and Cultural Lab and we're doing stuff in here that is amazing, right? We have the music and—we have the music series outside and then we have a lot of artists that collaborate, or not, or just meet as part of what we used to be [unclear] Long Island City artists in here. And I found kinship with a lot of people. In meeting a lot of people, it became a community really, became part of the community in here. So the partying, as in drinking and doing [laughs], it's—I can't do it. If I were, like, 20 years, 30 years younger, sure. [unclear] that, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1090.0,1143.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: The other thing that I find now also is that I feel like the time is ticking [snaps fingers]. You know, I have whatever productive years that I have ahead of me, and I am lucky enough to have a studio that I can make, produce large work. So if I'm not here working, I'm wasting my time because if this is gone, now what? You know, I won't be able to do that. I mean, realistically, I will not be able to do this anymore. So my—it's like sort of a deadline that I have. It's not—it's like death. You know it's coming, but you don't know when, but you know it's coming. You know, and there's, I don't want to call it legacy, but there's just so much work that I haven't done yet. You know, it's like, I'm still on the road, I'm still walking and discovering and looking and developing what I'm doing. And I don't wanna say, ah, there's no, like, no problem, there's time, I can just rest and not do it, you know, because it'll be there forever, or I have 40, 50 more years to work. I don't. So this is what it is now.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1143.0,1207.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: But when you said that, I immediately thought of, you know, we're all students in life and we always need to take the opportunities to improve and get better and things like that. So, but continuing off of that, you mentioned the studio. So I do want to talk a little bit about that. So the studio, you're currently right now in the Plaxall Gallery. And so I did want to talk a little bit about your experience of using that space as a studio area and kind of how that has maybe affected your work, and talk a little bit more about your relationship with Plaxall slash Culture Lab LIC.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1207.0,1246.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Yeah, well, I started—the space itself, I'm sharing with other people. They're not here now, but they're here. You know, we had, once COVID started, less people started coming here, but there were still people that were here. So I got to work other—you know, I spread around to another area because we wanted to physically disconnect people from each other. I am full of thanks and amazing feeling for the Culture Lab staff [on one level and to the] Plaxall people. And, you know, I remember talking to the owners and I was, we just conversation, and I was like, I said to them, \"You know, you're not like your average real estate company.\" And he looked at me, he was like, \"We're not a real estate company.\" I was like, that's about it, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1246.0,1303.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I just—it's incredible. I mean, not too many people are doing this, especially during the good—even during the good days, you know, when it was good to be greedy, [unclear] were not about that, about us here. And about really all the artists because I know they have more buildings with other artists that are in there and you can talk to them, you can discuss stuff with them. So the supporting the arts, they are a fixture in the neighborhoods since the forties, you know? And I just—there's really not too many words I can say. Like I said before, without them, about 30, 20 large scale drawings would not be around—mine, my work—would not be here. I'd have to sorta work smaller and, like, find some, you know, it just—I feel like they enabled me to spread my wings.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1303.0,1360.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Plus through this, through Plaxall, I met so many other people that are doing stuff, like dancers, and which expanded what it is that I want to do. I'd like to collaborate with dancers and musicians to create something which—you know, that's a connection. You know, it's not that you're Googling somebody and say, hey, can you work with me or anything. You just talk to them, they see your work, they appreciate, you see their work, you love it, and we talk. You know, it's a mutual respect and it's productive. It creates—like I said, both Plaxall and Culture Lab enabled me to spread my wings. You know, without that, I would have no wings.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1360.0,1403.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Yeah. And to continue to go off what you said, I mean, Plaxall Gallery, I've walked in there and I was just like, it's so big, I'm getting lost in here. There's so many—it's such a, especially in New York City where, you know, space is [unclear], it's really great that they give you guys such a wonderful space to work in and [unclear].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1403.0,1422.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: It is really, I mean, the more I think about it, the more unbelievable it is. And it's not just me, there's so many other people who are showing here and, like, you know, practice here. Musicians are practicing right now downstairs. They're setting up for recording. It's local heavyweight musicians are recording their albums and they're setting up for recording on Sunday right now downstairs. There's other people that recorded here. They produced plays, produced from scratch, from putting it together, writing it, putting it together, producing it, showing it. It's incredible. It's just, like, it's rare. It's rare. It's rare. And again, I'm very thankful for everybody there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1422.0,1472.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: I always love it 'cause it's just so beautiful to see community come together into that space and just to see kind of how, I mean, even with the, even during, you know, we're in a pandemic, and still being a place where creation can happen. It's really an amazing feat that they've been able to do, everyone involved.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1472.0,1493.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Really especially—and I can't sing everybody's prayer enough, praise enough. Even during the pandemic, there was [unclear] the place where you can actually socially distance see other people, you know, and really kinda hang out, listen to something, live music. Musicians were elated. You know, we got some heavyweight musicians coming and playing here from all over the city and just—they were just happy to be in front of people, and it was provided right here on the parking lot. So that's incredible.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1493.0,1530.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Yeah. And so to continue off of that, I did want to ask, because there's been just a lot of wonderful memories that have been [unclear] community, is just, do you have a specific highlight or favorite memory you have of working in Long Island City?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1530.0,1552.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Hmm. It's been so long since I've worked anywhere else. You know, so there's nothing really specific. I mean, I remember having my kid. My kid was growing up and, you know, I have, like, pictures of him visiting my studio when he was a baby, climbing up the stairs in my old studio before—and then coming again and then drawing [unclear], I'm working on one wall and he's working [unclear] he's drawing on another wall, doing his work. You know, and he's a little older and then kind of standing up and showing my work to other [unclear] my studio, talking to somebody, pointing. You know, it's like, I'm looking at it and I see his growth, how he's growing. And it's like, the consistent thing is the studio there, my old studio, which I still mourn losing, but I'm in a better place now [laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1552.0,1607.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so before we get into our next set of questions, I did want to ask one last thing in this section. In regards to, you know, in your bio you've mentioned that you were born and raised in Israel, you backpack through Europe, you were in Amsterdam for a while before you came to New York City. And I'm always interested in different cities and kind of what are similarities and differences. So I wanted to kind of just throw it as an open question of just, in terms of those places that you've been in, what are similarities? What are differences? How are the art scenes in those various locations? Things like that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1607.0,1652.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Yeah, well, just so you know, I'm from a tiny little place in Israel. I mean, I was born in—I was in a kibbutz before, but, like, I was raised in a very small town at the edge of Israel, which a woman once called the edge of the universe. It was [unclear] far from anywhere. Desert and sea was gorgeous, but that was it. It was nothing else. So Tel Aviv for me in the beginning was, like, the big city. And during my army days when I was serving in the army, instead of going home, sometimes on the weekends I used to stay in Tel Aviv, and then made friends there. And Tel Aviv was an amazing, bustling city for the arts, and has always been, as far as I know. It's just—you know, they have the opera there, classical music, amazing jazz music, the arts, theater and visual arts.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1652.0,1703.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: It's very bustling city [unclear] became too small. [unclear] became like [unclear]. Once you know one group, pretty much you know the scene. You know, so like every Israeli right after the army—my service, which I had to do, it's compulsory for three years—took a backpack and went to Europe. So I traveled a little bit and then I basically got stuck in Amsterdam [laughs]. And Amsterdam is a very easy city to get stuck in. And it was a great city, and I was taking some classes at Rijksakademie. I was taking classes at Rijksakademie, and I was hanging out, working illegally just to continue living there. And again, what happened is it just got small.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1703.0,1748.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And I remember coming to New York for the first time and I was like, [exhales], this is it. And you have to remember that New York at the time, 1980, was the center, or like, John Lennon called it the Mecca of the art world. You know, if anything you wanted to do, this was it. Like the arts, visual art was bustling at the time. And for you, it's probably history, you're young [laughs]. But for me, it was, like, it was bustling. Things were happening. It was, like, the center of the art world. Andy Warhol was still active at the time. [Jean-Michel] Basquiat was there. Just moving, moving art world. So you saw everything. You know, you saw whatever you read about in other places, you saw there.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1748.0,1789.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Music. I remember between classes, sometimes I used to be a bike messenger. And you're right on 42nd street and you see some older people. It's 1980, 81, 82 maybe. I was riding on my bike, delivering, and then I'm looking, and these older people playing—and older, for me they're older, now they're probably my age or younger [laughs]—and they're amazing. And then you think about it, it's 1980, and in the sixties, which was the height of the—fifties, sixties—which was the height of the jazz time, it was 20 or 30 years, they were, like, in their heights. They were, like, those musicians, you know, and you listened to them. And in Israel, I remember we used to listen to a lot of jazz and, you know, like, fusion music. And here they are, these guys, on the street in front of me with the same quality playing. And I was like, whoa, I'm home [laughs]. It's like, New York was there for me.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1789.0,1844.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And, you know, it changed. A lot of things changed. And it was rough. But truth is—and I sound like every other old artist now—it's like, it was easier to live here because the rents were not completely out of reach. You can eat in a diner. Diners then were cheap, not like today, so you can, you know, you can buy your food or your beer or whatever for nothing. And couple of days on the bike, maybe selling a drawing here or two, and, you know, survive. You can survive. You know, you can actually not just survive, but thrive, have a life and, like, really concentrate on what it is that you wanted to do, instead of falling into the rat race. You know, it's not enough money. I have to keep doing this. I have to dedicate more time to work. Now, one work is not enough, you need another work. And then, you know, your real work, not your earning money work, falls in the wayside.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1844.0,1897.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So it was fantastic. [unclear] for me, I'm like, this is it. New York is it. I mean, the writings were beginning to be on the wall, as gentrification, like I told you [unclear] Lower East Side to the East Village to Williamsburg, it was happening. You know, you could see it, but it was still affordable. Even early nineties, which for me is nothing—I mean, late nineties, I'm sorry—which for me is nothing, you can still go and buy art supplies for pretty inexpensively. You know, you had a lot of stuff, which now everybody got gobbled up by Blick. I shouldn't [unclear], but they all gobbled up by corporations, you know? So they control the pricing, they control—plus painting is not as, I don't [unclear] say popular or not, but, like, there's less demand for it, for art supplies for the paintings. So obviously because of that prices went up.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1897.0,1951.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: But—so there are changes that are happening, but you can still work. Everybody's working. Everybody I know who is an artist is still working. And I think this is the beauty of it. A lot of them are all my age. And a lot of people that I know and respect. And the beauty of now looking at them and looking back at all the times that we've been going through is you can see them maturing—not them, the work maturing. To see [unclear] like a whole story there. You can see somebody's work from—you know this person since 1980 and you're looking at her work or his work and you can see where it, like, weaves from different direction, moving, kind of developing.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1951.0,1993.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And most of us have found our language by now. And it's not that it's, that's it, we're done. But, like, you found, you know what you're doing and you're not—it's not that you know what you're doing, you know where you're going or where the destination is. And whether you get there or not, it doesn't matter because it's the way that you're working, but you know where your destination is. Sometimes you can't even articulate it, you know, but you sort of know where the destination—you know what's right and what's wrong as you're working, which for me is just great.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=1993.0,2028.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so I actually wanted to take a few steps back on a comment you had said, where you said that painting had become a little bit less popular, which is why the prices went up for paint. Was there any specific reasons that you saw why that shift happened?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2028.0,2049.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Well, I don't know if really it's because, you know, less paintings—listen, when I came here in the eighties, you can be, like, an art star painter. It's less and less of these right now. A lot of people now are living in [unclear] places and pretty much living off their names that they created. [unclear] a lot of newer people are painting [unclear] and they're good and they're [unclear] the amount of this is less and less. You have so many other ways in the art world, so many other movements and stuff that are more, more there, you know? So that could be one. Number two, everything went up. What didn't go up? It was gobbled by corporation, corporation raises the prices [unclear], that's it [laughs]. It's like everything. Like housing. The minute you get into this mindset, you know,","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2049.0,2100.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: You still have, though, some small paint makers or stores that are, like, their own, you know, their own people. And they're making their own paint, like Williamsburg Paint. And, you know, they have all these kinds of places that are doing it. You can buy the right charcoal, which I can't find anymore 'cause you go into a big store and everything is covered in plastic. And a lot of it tells you what it is, it's dark, but you want to see how dark it is. You know, you have to really test it on paper to see, which does not exist anymore because everything is wrapped in plastic. So, I think it's two fold. It's not that paintings are not as popular, but they're not like—I don't think young kids who have in their mind that they're going to be stars, and I'm not saying star, you know, like, they're going to be, the future, the direction, think of art as painting, as something that will make them, you know. So you have less of that because of that.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2100.0,2157.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And it's not discounting anything else, multimedia, video art, movie making, but it's—painting itself is less on top than it was for instance in the eighties. Before that even, but the eighties, I think, there was, like, a big—in the nineties, early, early nineties, you know, there was a big kind of push with that. It was big. And it was because the markets were good, you had Mary Boone and the people throwing their money at it, and whatever the reason was. You know, there's always other reasons beside the poor schlep artist who is really trying to make a real good piece of work, you know?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2157.0,2198.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so to kind of move into some of the things that are happening today, you know, with where we're at, to look at the date, we're in October and we're still currently in the midst of COVID-19. So I wanted to ask you first is just in terms of when COVID-19 first hit, how did your day to day life routine get affected?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2198.0,2233.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: For the last few years I've been working—I have a growing son and I have a family, so I was working a lot, and I'm working in catering, which is like [unclear] required 15 hours or so a day. And the day after you're just dead, you know, you can't really work. So all of a sudden there was all this time left and—it's really, it's a two-fold answer here. So there was the time all of a sudden there. Plus we got the incentive from the government, so, okay, so I can survive financially. Plus, you know in your mind that there's nothing else you can do. It's not just you sitting, everybody, the world is going around and you're just there falling behind. It's like, everybody's in the same boat. There's nothing you can do about it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2233.0,2281.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So it sort of freed me to work a little more on the other hand. I was working still on the other body of work that I'm dealing with right now, that I went back to right now, which is the Once Removed. And I couldn't continue. It's just like, it seemed so irrelevant at the time because it was a physical, it felt like a physical—in the beginning when we didn't know anything about it, we just knew that it's dangerous and you can die, you know, there was the physical threat of it. So I'm looking at this and it's like, it's not really important. You know, so I had all this time and I was sitting here for days looking, cannot really get back into the piece that I was working on. And so I put it aside and I put big piece of paper and I stood and sat in front of it and thought and thought and thought and thought. And everything that—I didn't want to do portraits with a mask, all that kind of, it just didn't appeal to me. It felt, like, superficial, plus you saw so much of it.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2281.0,2345.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/59","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: So I was searching for an image. And I'm a film buff, film war buff, and I'm old, old films buff. And so just the first thing that came to my mind after—actually, it's not the first thing—until it came to my mind after a long, long pondering, you know, the scene from The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, where Death and the knight are playing chess. And I was like, ooh, now here's an image. You know, so I basically for the next two months or so, two, almost three months, I made two of those images. I made two of those drawings. That was one of them and the other one was just Death standing there with his big robe.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2345.0,2399.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/60","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And I made them extra, extra large because I—well, I made the big robe one extra large because I told you I had to move downstairs and all of a sudden there was a huge space and nobody was there. [unclear] I don't even know how long, maybe 30, maybe 30 something feet tall ceilings. I have a space to do it, you know? So I got into that one. And I'd really dedicated all my time on, like, to work on that. So I worked on that, and once I did those two, I was done. [unclear] I think I said what—I think I did what I wanted to do. I think everything else will just be harboring [unclear]. Plus it was too, sort of like, direct. And I felt like at that time, I want it to be direct.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2399.0,2450.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/61","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I'm working right now on another body of work that I started before, which is the Once Removed, which is really what it is that bothers me—or is there that I want to pay attention. It's actually hidden. It's just a reflection in a mask or a shield or something, either a policeman behind me there or a astronaut because [unclear] strange looking—it was, like, the outsider standing there and looking at the astronaut [unclear], \"what are you guys doing?\" And that's it. But COVID really, like I said, in the beginning it was, like, a shock to the system. And you know you want to work, I knew I wanted to work, [unclear] opportunity to work, but I could not choose the image. It took me a while to get the two images that I've made.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2450.0,2500.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/62","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Yeah. And so speaking of the film still that inspired you, I think I know—I haven't seen the movie, but I know of the still because I've seen it in books before.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2500.0,2511.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/63","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Yeah. Basically what it is, it's a knight that comes back from the Crusades in, I guess, the 1300s or so in medieval—like, the north, I don't know what countries it was then. It was probably [unclear] systems. But he comes back and him and his squire, the first scene they're on the beach kind of waking up and Death comes, basically in the middle of the plague. And then he developed sort of an entourage and the whole game—he's sort of playing chess, both literally and metaphorically. He's playing chess with Death, and I'm not going to tell you who won at the end [laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2511.0,2550.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/64","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: I have to go watch it [laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2550.0,2552.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/65","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Well, you know who won at the end. Whoever—who's always winning at the end?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2552.0,2557.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/66","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: That is true. And so to continue off of that, I'm always very curious, in terms of how—when the pandemic hit—how the streets look like. 'Cause I know, like, the area I'm in, it's always super busy, and the scariest part was the silence. So I wanted to see, did a similar effect happen in Long Island City and has that changed?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2557.0,2582.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/67","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Absolutely. It was dead. Everything froze. It was, like—I don't know. It's—I don't even know. I can't even put in percentages. It was pretty much you can be on the street by yourself, maybe two, three other people, and that's it on the full street, on Vernon Boulevard. And Vernon Boulevard now on weekends, you know, it can be completely crazy. Right before the pandemic, it was nuts. It was getting, well, I guess in a good way for the business owners, but it was packed. And it was nothing. It was, like, nobody was around. Yeah, it was completely dead.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2582.0,2618.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/68","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Do you feel like it's changed since then? Do you think there's more people coming back now?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2618.0,2623.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/69","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Well, it started changing when they started opening a little bit, when the restaurants opened outside and [unclear]. It was summer and, like, towards the end of summer, August, September, and it was hot, hotter, you know, and people were cooped for months in the house and just wanted to go out. So, yeah, it was. And especially our peers, you know, by the—they were packed. Weekends it was, like, a little too packed for us. Like, looking around and people are running right on top of you and [exhales] you can hear, you can hear them blowing the air as they're running. I was like, oh my God. You want to move away from that. But it was getting packed, yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2623.0,2660.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/70","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: It's changed now as the weather is getting cold. And we'll see what happens. I don't know. But, yeah, it's changing. Some restaurants now—like, today and yesterday was pouring, pouring rain and cold, so a lot of restaurants didn't even open because, why would you open it? Nobody can sit there 'cause all the sitting is outside. So they didn't even bother opening.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2660.0,2689.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/71","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: It's so tough on those businesses. It's rough.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2689.0,2695.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/72","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I know because my income is from the food business, like, in the catering stuff. So, same with me. We were working—we had parties, you know, which is like 20 people, 30 people max, and all outside in tents. But now you can't do the tents. I mean, you can do the tents, but if you close them, what's the difference here? Again [you're] in a closed space. So it's probably going to die again, only this time there's a fatigue and this time there's no help from the government, so far, unless it changes. And we'll see what happens. Yeah, it's a little worrying.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2695.0,2738.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/73","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: But in the beginning, in the beginning also you had the feeling that we're all in the same boat. And it's not now. I don't feel that it's the same now because, you know, a lot of people are still working now, went back to work. It's like the thing, back to work from home, or—you know, it's certain jobs, certain professions or certain occupations that are hurting. So it's not spread around everybody, which will make it harder to get help because when it's everybody, then everybody will get help. When it's not everybody, it can be dismissed. So I'm a little worried I have to say, but, you know, we'll see what happens. You can't really—you can do only what you can do.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2738.0,2785.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/74","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Yeah. Like I always say, we have to take it one day at a time. And so then, as right now you are at the gallery, and so I did also want to ask, you've mentioned some of the events that are happening at the gallery and kind of just—when did you notice them starting that up and kind of what has been the turnout and response from the community for that?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2785.0,2814.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/75","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Right. So the Plaxall, I mean, in the Culture Lab, like, parking lot series I guess we called it, it was Thursday through Sunday. And this weekend is the last weekend. They might do other stuff, but, like, officially it would be the last weekend. And that was—that started in the summer, I think early summer, July maybe, it started around July. At the time also, we had, on Mondays, we had comedy nights that were with The Creek and The Cave. Since they couldn't do it inside, they did it outside here. And it was, like, they got together with some, you know, with—well, Michael Che from Saturday Night Live was here for a couple of dates, for a couple of gigs. So, it was there. You know, it felt like stuff was happening. Like, there was a place to go to where you can be [uses air quotes] safe-ish, you know, or at least mentally safe.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2814.0,2872.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/76","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: And you can do something to be safe. You can walk away from people. You can make sure your mask is on. But things were happening. You know, there was music and there was comedy and there was—it was the crowd sort of a feeling of, like, togetherness which was going on here. So that was happening. We also had a show here, which was, I forget the name of it, but it was dedicated to the hundred year anniversary of the women's right to vote. So—and that was a great show that was here. And again, that was handled very carefully. The gallery, there's only one way to get in, so, you know, they made sure that it was only eight people at a time at the most at the gallery, and it was managed—it was a beautiful show, really. Good artists doing good work.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2872.0,2922.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/77","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Right now there is nothing. But like I said, there's the setting up for recording for an album for these people here who are amazing musicians. There's going to be another show here as far as I understand. So it's happening. It's not what it used to be because when, you know, last year with LIC-A [Long Island City Artists] here, when we were [unclear] LIC-A here, it was just—every month there was at least two shows, minimum two shows. You know, and it was happening. You know, there were openings, there were people coming, there were people seeing each other, there were—like, the theater was going on with guests, with what was produced in here plus other stuff. People came in and showed their works in here, like musicians, classical musicians and more modernists. It was happening.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2922.0,2976.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/78","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Let's see what happens now. You know, I think we have to get over the winter to see. If we can survive this coming winter, I think it will sort of start—the life will start again. The art life in here will start—the community art life will start again. So impact for the community was amazing here because—and you can see the building up [unclear]. In the beginning, it was a lot of people—some people here and it's all right, but then the parking lot was beginning to get filled. And you saw—I don't know if you saw, they drew the circle where people are supposed to stay. But more and more and more people came, plus a lot of musicians that came from other areas of New York. Not Long Island City, but, like, New York City artists came and played in here and they brought their own crowd. You know, people that were introduced to what we're doing here.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=2976.0,3025.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/79","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I don't know of much—maybe I could be uninformed, but I don't know of anything else that was happening like that, that kind of a volume and that kind of work. I mean, I know of some rooftop movie showings and I know some, on the streets, you know, like, people getting together as an organized sort of a thing. I don't know much that was happening in New York City, so kudos to them.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3025.0,3052.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/80","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so speaking of, you know, you mentioned, like, art world. In terms of just kind of like in the broader picture, how do you see COVID-19 affecting the art world in general?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3052.0,3065.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/81","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I don't know, because I don't know how much connected I am to the art world. I kind of feel like I'm in my little—I have my island here and I'm working. You know, I don't have—I'm not connected with a gallery that will [unclear] right now. So, I don't really—I don't think I'm qualified to answer that. I know I'll keep working as long as I can [laughs]. That's as much as I know.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3065.0,3091.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/82","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I know of my other artist friends and stuff and, like, everybody's on the same boat right now. We're all trying to work. We're all trying to sort of make sense of stuff and deal with the craziness of being stuck at home for days on, you know? It's hard on people. You know, you're with the same people all the time at home and stuff, it's hard, and we're all dealing with exact same thing. So right now, I think for me, it's just, you know, if I have time to sit here and produce, to be in the studio and produce work, I'll be here and produce work. That's really my [uses air quotes] art world. My little world, I guess [laughs].","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3091.0,3132.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/83","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: And so in terms of just kind of heading into our last question here, I always save the hardest question for last. What do you think is the most hopeful thing to come out just this whole situation that has been happening in 2020?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3132.0,3152.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/84","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: I really wish this was the worst [laughs]. I hope so. This was the year from hell. But we've been through a lot of stuff. People say not like this—we've been in situations, like, we thought that was it, but the world fell, and the world did fall for some, you know, and then we sort of came out of it. So, just keep, you know, just really have your life around you, make sure that people that you love—like, I have a family at home, which I should be with right now instead of being at the studio working [laughs], but I need to do that too. It'll be over. I'm sure it will be over somehow. You know, even if it will be four more years of that, it will be over [laughs], if you know what I mean.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3152.0,3216.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/85","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Well, Jonathan, thank you so much for doing this interview today. Thank you so much. And my last, my last official question is, where can people find your work online?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3216.0,3231.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/86","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: Well, on Instagram, jlev713, and my website is jonathanlev.com. And if you want to give—if you can get in touch with me through Instagram or something like this and you want to organize a studio visit, I'm right here in Long Island City.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3231.0,3251.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/87","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JO-ANN WONG: Awesome. Thank you so much, Jonathan.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3251.0,3253.0"},{"id":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739/transcript/94043/annotation/88","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"JONATHAN LEV: My pleasure.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://queenslibrary.aviaryplatform.com/collections/153/collection_resources/39362/file/110739#t=3253.0,3255.42398"}]}]}]}