Brent Hallard interviews painter Daniel Levine on the occasion of Levine's exhibition The Way Around at Churner and Churner, New York, on view through February 22, 2014.

Levine comments: "When monochromes are successful, they are sincere, well painted, intelligent, and transcendent. As much as the work incorporates my own experiences and the world around me–I paint to understand the world and my place in it – the viewer is free to project onto them. As much as I’m making what appears to be a monochrome, I’m not making a Monochrome; I’m making a painting, with all its tics and quirks and successes and failures. A monochrome that fails is one that is presumptuous, where the paint is put on without any depth, or surprise, or meaning besides fulfilling the role of 'monochrome.' It looks simple, but it’s extraordinarily complex. In a way, monochrome is the ultimate parody of and the ultimate tribute to painting."