Artist Statement
Dynasty
Lewis was born naked and without the ability to take care of himself oreven to speak. His parents are largely responsible for helping him overcome these initial obstacles. His mother, an oil painter, and his father, a nuclear engineer, together helped lay down the balance of left brain and right brain functions.
A life-threatening injury at the age of 10 caused an out-of-body experience rewriting his world view and setting him on a life-long quest for a deeper understanding than his family's religion offered. The pursuit of experiential mysticism took him on multiple world tours with his Teacher as well as 13 trips to the desert of Rajasthan, India for intense meditation retreats. Today as a daily mediator he finds the life of an artist to be a compatible occupation while pursuing his spiritual journey.
Lewis uses creative image-making as catalytic incense, aiding in his transformation of consciousness and the awakening of perception. He feels best when his outer temple of mind is permeated with the creative process. The prevailing overview perspective supporting his image-making is that as human beings our perception of all that surrounds us is, at best, only a small fraction of reality. Each person’s perception is uniquely and wonderfully different; for each the world is seen through their own specially colored lenses. “I capture and create images because I don’t know what I am seeing until I view a vision of what I’ve seen.” There is strong upliftment experienced in seeking, participating in, and interpreting the ethereal essences imminent in all of nature.
Lewis’ work is heavily influenced by the sages and poets who painted the ancient Chinese landscapes. These connections manifest in his art through the use of elongated canvases, multi-panel nature scenes and the use of fog. The most dominating facet of the Chinese landscapes is their use of negative space which is often represented by clouds or fog. Perhaps what we don’t see or know about something is also a form of knowledge.