Starting from 18 January 2025, Galerie Martin van Zomeren will present Through the Found Window, the second exhibition by Andrew Lewis at the gallery.
Looking and seeing. What do we expect , and hope to find?
In a work of art, perhaps sometimes, the pleasing relation of shape, line and colour. Yes . Or maybe, also an intriguing interplay of ideas. Yes.
In this, his second show with the gallery, Lewis seems here to be interested in the act of looking. Not just at his enigmatic sculptures, which we find, sometimes in a gallery setting, sometimes outside, within nature. Sometimes floating.
In these charismatic paintings, what do the viewers see within the inner lives of the sculptures? What are the observers in each of the pictures looking at? They see scenes which are observations of our society; as it is today, or how it was in the past, sometimes with connections between the two.
With his tale telling sculptures, Lewis has created a new visual language. A common thread, connecting us with the past, is the inexorable, teleological progress, of our species. Generally speaking, this progress is manifested in the form of technological advances. The picture, Faraday Shielding shows us this, as does Unified Theory, where electromagnetics,
in the form of telegram and radar, have protected the organism, which is the United Kingdom.
Spectacle & scale of sculptures, are other interests of Lewis. In the paintings, Who’s Denise Please? and in Not only, but also, we see the playful treatment of an architectural-scaled sculpture seen in two different, complementary contexts. The former, with two interested viewers. Whereas in the latter picture, which depicts a commercial retail environment, the centre of attention is the interaction between the people in the composition, rather than the
sculpture, itself.
Returning to the act of looking. With the picture, Not very far from Mount Aleppo , we witness the subject of two viewers’ concerned gaze. The hamster depicted, is a simple , rather anxious-looking creature, who’s species originates from a complex, troubled part of our planet. This region will , (as all parts of the world) , eventually evolve towards positive progress.
Text: Andrew Lewis
Argenton-sur-Creuse, France
