ADAM CHARLES LEVITE // UNCLES
JUNE 6 – JUNE 28 2026
OPENING EVENT SATURDAY JUNE 6TH 7-11PM
FEATURING A PERFORMANCE BY MELINA ALHADEFF
ON VIEW EVERY SATURDAY + SUNDAY 1-6PM
GALLERY SADE LOS ANGELES // 204 S AVE 19 LA CA 90031
SADE-LA.COM // @SADELOSANGELES
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“The Uncle, then, is not only a person, but a figure through whom authority, masculinity, violence, and desire are learned. He is despised, and still somehow desired. He returns not as a ghost, but as a structure already absorbed into the body. His protection becomes difficult to separate from violence, and care from control. He does not need to speak; his authority has already been internalized.” —IMAN MALIK
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One day, two of my Uncles from 1980s Buffalo NY showed up in my studio. Though long dead, they appeared as always, mocking and bullying. Old habits.
These Uncles were men’s men and, as was not uncommon in immigrant families in the 1950s or 1960s, rumored to be connected to organized crime. One was quiet with an unmistakable violence lurking beneath a warm surface. The other was overbearing, funny, bullying. Both made clear that they knew and employed people who did terrible things. Their message: strength and success are inextricable from cruelty and violence. As a shy introverted kid it was clear to us all that I was not like them. I wanted to be.
Though buried in family stories, Uncles rejects narrative, embracing doubt and impermanence. Thin cheap paper is barely held together with tape, staples, and glue, layered with tenuous imagery from an adolescent world in Buffalo: snow, hockey, family business. Memory is fragile, multi-valanced, elusive, thin.
Where does cruelty come from? Is it genetic or learned? And if it’s from people you’re supposed to care for does it make it any better?
Who are your Uncles?
— ADAM CHARLES LEVITE
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ADAM CHARLES LEVITE (B1968, BUFFALO, NEW YORK) IS AN ARTIST FROM BROOKLYN, NEW YORK WHO IS CURRENTLY IN THE MFA PROGRAM AT CAL ARTS
GALLERY SADE LOS ANGELES PRESENTS ADAM CHARLES LEVITE // UNCLES // WITH AN OPENING RECEPTION ON SATURDAY, JUNE 6TH, 2026 FROM 7-11PM FEATURING A PERFORMANCE BY MELINA ALHADEFF
THE WORKS WILL BE ON VIEW EVERY SATURDAY + SUNDAY FROM 1-6PM AND BY PRIVATE VIEWING APPOINTMENT AT ALL OTHER TIMES UNTIL JUNE 28TH
GALLERY SADE LOS ANGELES IS LOCATED AT 204 S AVENUE 19 LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA
FOR INQUIRIES AND PRIVATE VIEWING APPOINTMENTS CONTACT SADE-LA@SADE-LA.COM
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XOSADE
