Zane Lewis (born 1981) is an American visual artist based in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

.Slenske, Michael
"Spray It Loud"
'' Wmagazine.com'', 10 July 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014. His abstract paintings and sculptures reference color field painting, pointillism, phenomenology, and minimalism. And have been stylistically referred to as 'psychedelic minimalism'. The acclaimed ''New York Times'' art critic

Roberta Smith Roberta Smith (born 1948) is co-chief art critic of ''The New York Times'' and a lecturer on contemporary art. She is the first woman to hold that position at the Times. Education and early life Born in 1948 in New York City and raised in Lawre ...

called Lewis' paintings "skillfully spray-painted whose shifting tonalities and densities have a glowing, slightly psychedelic look suggesting an admiration for Jules Olitski, the California Light and Space movement and Las Vegas. Spray-painted with diaphanous textures, delicate and unexpectedly beautiful." Lewis' works contain a phenomenological aura pushing the notion of direct experience upon the viewer. This essence becomes part of Lewis' tool kit as he forces those to engage his paintings sculpturally, a "Turrellian approach" to painting.

Biography

Lewis was born in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

, and studied fine arts at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in New York, and the Atlanta College of Art affiliated with the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

, where he earned a BFA degree in sculpture. Lewis was the youngest artist to exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Georgia, having been commissioned by the museum to create an installation before completing his undergraduate degree. Bollen, Christopher
"Zane Lewis Makes Art Bleed"
, ''VMAN'', Spring/Summer 2008. Retrieved 23 December 2008.

Work

Early work

Zane Lewis often blurs conventional distinctions between painting and sculpture. Early in his career he presented his work in installation-like formats hanging canvases with printed-images, then painting them onsite in the gallery. The paint dripped on the floor would become part of the exhibition. In a further extension of his practice, he created new works cut from the dried paint puddles left behind. Lewis referred to recycling and "remixing" images like a DJ. Lewis's unique drip painting technique allowed different colors of paint to combine without mixing while retaining a wet look. These cascades of paint leaked from canvases and spilled onto the floor of the exhibition space. Christopher Bollen, Editor-in-Chief of ''Interview'' Magazine, called this method of Lewis' "making art bleed." "The artist allows the gash to “bleed” brightly colored paint (which he has applied), in order to express a transient and dying glamor."Zane Lewis, Untitled (Mirror Study) archived at Whitney Art Party artists
Lewis' mix of abstraction and appropriated images caught the attention of The ''

Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' who included Lewis in the article "The 23-Year Old Masters," along with artists Ryan Trecartin, Jordan Wolfson and Dash SnowCrow, Kelly
"The 23-Year Old Masters"
''

'', 17 April 2006. Retrieved 23 December 2008. in a selection of ten top young US artists. Lewis has exhibited at

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

in conjunction with Phillips de Pury and was featured as a "Groundbreaker" artist in groundbreaking ceremony for the new location in lower

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

.Davis, Peter
"Whitney Art Party 2010"
VOGUE Italia, 10 June 2010. Retrieved 11 October 2010.

Stylistic shift

Between 2010 and 2013 Lewis' website stated he was dead, however this was proven false. During that time period Lewis distanced himself from exhibiting and his involvement with the art world.
''Huffington Post ARTS & CULTURE'', Retrieved 25 August 2011. Lewis marks this as a "transitional period," which certain elements of his work "had to die." Here marks the artists rejection of imagery and a shift toward total abstraction. Lewis is known to avoid interviews and to have denied reputable collectors studio visits or only allowing them to view his studio by themselves.

Exhibitions include

The Aishti Foundation (Lebanon), The Whitney Museum of American Art (New York, NY), The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (TX), Museo De La Ciudad De Mexico (Mexico City), The Museum of Contemporary Art (Atlanta, GA), Hauser & Wirth (Los Angeles, CA), Galerie Eric Hussenot (Paris, France), The Hudson River Museum, The Watermill Center and Columbia University. Lewis is also a distant cousin of

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He became one of the most influential figures in Hollywood in the 1950s, despite a career that lasted only five years. His impact on cinema and popular culture was p ...

Notes and references

External links

Artist's Website

Eric Hussenot Galerie Website Zane Lewis's work at the 2011 The Whitney Museum Art Party

New York artist Zane Lewis re-emerges with a new body of work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Zane 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 1981 births Living people 20th-century American male artists