Peter Wayne Lewis
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Peter Wayne Lewis | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1953 Kingston, Jamaica |
| Nationality | Jamaican / US citizen |
Peter Wayne Lewis was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1953 and has been an American citizen since 1983. He received his Masters of Arts in Painting from San Jose State University in California and was a tenured Professor of Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston for 25 years, including a stint as Chairman of the Department. While teaching in Massachusetts, he maintained a studio practice and divided his time between the New York metropolitan area and Beijing, China.
Peter’s influences are global, ranging from his early attraction to Japanese prints to a lifelong interest in music, the legacy of his jazz-pianist father. Later in his career he became interested in theoretical cosmology and quantum physics (especially string theory), concepts which pushed his work into new territory, notably in the series "Buddha Plays Monk."[1]
Early Life, Education and Teaching Career
Peter Wayne Lewis was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1953 and immigrated to Sacramento, California with his parents in 1962. As a boy in the 1950s, Lewis wanted to be a musician akin to his father, a jazz pianist. “I grew up listening to music and have a great appreciation for it, but I did not have that gift,” he said, and instead channeled his love of rhythm and melody into large-scale abstract canvases.[2] He received his M.A.in Painting from San Jose State University in 1979, and became an American citizen in1983. He began his teaching career in 1989 as a visiting professor of painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, followed by a guest professorship in painting at San Jose State University. He then became a professor of painting at the University of California, Berkeley in 1991. He moved to the New York City area later that year. He taught at Syracuse University from 1993 until 1995, when he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design (MCAD) in Boston. He was a tenured professor for 25 years, serving as Department Chairman for Fine Arts 2D from 2006-2009.[3] He retired from teaching at MCAD in 2020.
Art Career
Peter Wayne Lewis has exhibited extensively in the US, Africa, Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. Solo exhibitions produced between 1984 and 2023 included The Delaware Contemporary art gallery in Wilmington, DE; a survey of paintings produced in his studio in Beijing at the UCCA - Ullens Center of Contemporary Art in the 798 Art Zone of Beijing, China (curated by Philip Tinari); and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) - North Miami. His works are in numerous public and private collections in the U.S. and abroad.
Lewis met Norman Parish in 1991, the owner of a gallery for Black artists in Georgetown, Washington, DC who subsequently represented him and presented his work. Shortly after Lewis moved to the east coast in early 1992, he was introduced to artist Lorenzo Pace. Pace introduced him to an array of artists and jazzmen in the Bowery and the New York City area, including poet Amiri Baraka.
Later in 1992 he became the artist-in-residence in Viechtach, Bavaria, Germany where he produced 70 works in two months for an exhibition at the Kunsthaus Ostbayern. In 1993, he participated in his first exhibition in New York City at the Stephen Rosenberg Gallery.
In 1995 he was included in the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition "Caribbean Visions," curated by Dr. Samella Lewis.[4] He exhibited his first solo show at Parish Gallery, followed by his first New York City one-man exhibition of the Blue Swan Suite paintings at Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art.
In 2000, his exhibition at Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art featured his new "Fields Series." His next body of work, "Strings," was based on physics string theory and jazz music. He first exhibited "Strings" in 2003 in New York City.[5] That same year, he assembled a solo show at the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans. The following year he was guest lecturer at the National Gallery of Jamaica Biennial, where his 9- panel "Strings K" suite of paintings was exhibited. Lewis was a 2005 artist-in-residence in Eschlkam, Germany that culminated in the opening of the Kunst Pyramid project "Licht und Shatten - Light and Shadow," sponsored by the state of Bavaria. Lewis’ work appeared again as an invited artist in the Biennial at the National Gallery of Jamaica in 2006.
Lewis's first exhibition of large paintings in grid format, “Beijing Booster Griot,” opened at the Sunshine International Art Museum in the Songzhuang arts district in Beijing in 2008. Lewis’s “Eye of the Magnet” painting was exhibited in the Fifth Beijing International Art Biennale in 2012.[6] “Beijing Booster Griot” appeared again in a solo exhibition in 2015, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, along with additional "Booster" series paintings.[7]
From January to March 2016, UCCA presented two parallel exhibitions showcasing the works of Lewis and Frederick J. Brown (1945-2012), "two artists of the African diaspora whose expressive paintings draw inspiration from their respective cultural backgrounds and shared interest in jazz and spirituality."[8] In 1988, Brown had become the first American artist to display his work at the institution now known as the National Museum of China. Along with Brown's work, Lewis exhibited two major suites, each comprising fifteen paintings. "There is an idea in string theory that all matter exists as vibrating strings moving in multiple dimensions. This idea links physics to my great love, music. The vibration of the strings creates harmony - the universe is a symphony of color and light and different time signatures," Lewis said. Titled "Monk Time Suite" (2013) and "Buddha Plays Monk" (2012-2015), the two suites were painted in China. The exhibition, the first time the works had been shown publicly, made use of the high walls of UCCA's nave to display the groupings in large grids. A group of six paintings titled "False Vacuum" (2015), inspired by the ideas of MIT physicist Alan Guth, were also displayed.[8] In 2019 Lewis presented the "Beijing Booster" series again as a solo exhibition at the Delaware Contemporary.[9] The painting series "Bending Time Paintings" was first exhibited in a solo exhibition at Red Gate Gallery in Beijing, China in 2019.[10] He presented an online exhibition of a variety of paintings at Skoto Gallery in New York City in 2021.[1]
His next series, "Buoyancy," had its debut at Skoto Gallery in New York City in early 2023. The series was prompted by a trans-Atlantic voyage from Florida to Venice, Italy in 2022, an opposite-direction Middle Passage his ancestors would have made between Africa and Jamaica. "This experience transformed my sensibilities and humanness. The "Buoyancy" paintings, as all of my work, deal with stasis, trying to find some sort of balance and grounding. Being an immigrant from Kingston, Jamaica and migrating to the USA in 1962 forever changed me and my sense of place and meaning. Balancing through the physics of being buoyant on a vessel across an aqueous body, as well as moving through the cosmos in this world never escapes me."[11]
In October 2023, his solo exhibition at the b. sakata garo gallery in Sacramento included work on canvas as well as scroll paintings executed on rice paper.[12]
Personal Life
Peter Wayne Lewis married Catherine Schneider-Lewis in 1980 in San Jose, California. Their son, Wayne Lewis, was born in 1986 in San Francisco, California. The family moved to the New York City area in 1992.
Solo Exhibitions
1984 Paintings, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
1986 Paintings, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
1987 Recent Abstract Images, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Monterey, CA
1990 Works on Paper, Kunsthaus Ostbayern, Viechtach, Germany
1997 Replicant, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY
2002 Dream Paintings, Parish Gallery, Washington, DC (now part of the Smithsonian Institution)[13]
2008 Strings, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York, NY; Paintings, Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2009 Paintings, Promo-Arte, Tokyo, Japan
2011 Paintings from Middle Earth Part 2, Matthias Kuper Galleries, Beijing, China; Paintings from Middle Earth Part 1, JAYJAY, Sacramento, CA[14]
2012 Paintings from Middle Earth Part 3, Promo-Arte, Tokyo, Japan
2013 Paintings from Middle Earth 4, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY; Strings, Matthias Kuper Galleries, Stuttgart, Germany
2015 The Booster Paintings, Museum of Contemporary Art-North Miami, FL.[15]; The Brain Paintings, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY[16]
2015/6 Peter Wayne Lewis & Frederick J. Brown, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China[17]
2019 The Bending Time Paintings – From Kingston to Beijing, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China[10]
2019/20 Beijing Booster Paintings, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE[9]
2021 Booster Selection, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY[1]
2023 Buoyancy, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY[11]; “Kingston to Sacramento: a Painter’s Journey,” b. sakata garo gallery, Sacramento, CA[12]
Selected Group Exhibitions
1997 Seeing Jazz[18], Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service, Washington, DC
2018 Drawn (over), The Museum of Contemporary Art, Vojvodina, Serbia[19]; Monumental, JAYJAY, Sacramento, CA[20]
2019 38 Degrees, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China[21]
2020 Color Memory, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China[22]
2021 In Praise of Zen, Tatami Art Museum, Eiheiji, Japan[23]; Tacit Facet: Small and Mighty, Brookline Arts Center, Curator Camilø Álvårez of Samson
2022 The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, AFRIKIN ART 2022, Maison AfriKin, Miami, FL; Border Free, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China[24]; Countdown Series 4, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China[25]; 30th Anniversary Group Show, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY[26]
Further Reading
David Carrier, "Formed in Darkness and Into the Light: an Interview with Peter Wayne Lewis" interview, Feb. 2002 (https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5eadc794ee24081398b318ea/t/5f5f79a482f5d20704ce3e66/1600092580287/2000-02%28Feb%2911_DAVID+CARRIER+Interview.pdf)
Roberta Smith, “Art in Review; Peter Wayne Lewis”, New York Times, May 9, 2003
Ding Ning, "Graceful Spontaneity in Peter Wayne Lewis Painting," NY Arts Magazine, 2006
David Roth, "Peter Wayne Lewis @ JAYJAY", squarecylinder.com, 2011
Peter Wayne Lewis, Paintings From Middle Earth Four, Skoto Gallery, New York, NY, 2013
"Jamaican Artist Stuns Beijing Art Enthusiasts," South Florida Caribbean News, April, 2016
“ Unknown Story of the Road to Abstract Art ”, video interview of Peter Wayne Lewis, Phoenix Art, January 2016
"Peter Wayne Lewis & Frederick J. Brown," Artron.net & Action Media, UCCA video interview, January 2016
Harvey Dzodin, "One Cool Cat's Exhibit Now on at 798's UCCA," China Daily News, January 2017
David M. Roth, "Monumental @ JAYJAY," SquareCylinder.com, online magazine, 2018
Sheena Guangming and Brian Wallace, "Understanding Peter Wayne Lewis – The Bending Time Paintings – From Kingston to Beijing," China.com & EUpeople.com, July 2019
Harriet Lloyd-Smith, "Prizm Art Fair gives a platform to African Diasporic perspectives," Wallpaper* online magazine, December 2020
Philip Tinari, "Peter Wayne Lewis: Mediations in an Emergency," Art Bund Magazine, January 8, 2022
"Kingsley Art Club Presents: Peter Wayne Lewis, Artist and Speaker" lecture video, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA, October 2023
External Links
Peter Wayne Lewis official website (https://peterwaynelewis.com/)
References
- ^ a b c "Peter Wayne Lewis | 15 January - 28 February 2021". Skoto Gallery. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ Magazine, Smithsonian; Crawford, Amy. "How Peter Wayne Lewis Infuses His Artwork With the Spirit of Jazz". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
- ^ "Massachusetts College of Art and Design - Notable faculty (past and present)".
- ^ "Slideshow | AAA.parigall_ref44". edan.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
- ^ "Peter Wayne Lewis @ Rosenberg + Kaufman - Veerle Poupeye". NY Arts Magazine. 2006-04-30. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ The Album of the Fifth Beijing International Art Biennale. People's Fine Arts Publishing House. 2012. ISBN 9787102061603.
- ^ Sell, Mark (October 6, 2015). "MOCA Goes Global" (PDF). Biscayne Times.
- ^ a b "Peter Wayne Lewis & Frederick J. Brown". UCCA Center for Contemporary Art. Retrieved 2024-03-01.
- ^ a b "BEIJING BOOSTER PAINTINGS - Peter Wayne Lewis".
- ^ a b "The Bending Time Paintings - From Kingston to Beijing".
- ^ a b "Peter Wayne Lewis: The Buoyancy Paintings – Skoto Gallery". Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ a b Roth, David M. (2023-10-10). "Peter Wayne Lewis @ b. sakata garo". Squarecylinder.com – Art Reviews | Art Museums | Art Gallery Listings Northern California. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "Slideshow | AAA.parigall_ref137". edan.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-03-03.
- ^ "Peter Wayne Lewis: Paintings from Middle Earth". JayJay. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "Beijing Booster: The Art Of Peter Wayne Lewis"
- ^ "Peter Wayne Lewis. The Beautiful Brain". March 15, 2015.
- ^ "Peter Wayne Lewis & Frederick J. Brown - 2016.1.15 - 2016.3.13".
- ^ Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz. Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service: Chronicle Books. 1997. p. 11. ISBN 9780811817325.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ "(Pre)Crtano Drawn(Over)". Tomas Vu. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "Monumental: Group Exhibition". JayJay. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "2019 | Red Gate Gallery". www.redgategallery.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "Colour Memory Exhibition - Red Gate Gallery - Beijing China".
- ^ "Tatami Museum of Art - In Praise of Zen: Views by Seventeen Artists".
- ^ "Current Exhibition | Red Gate Gallery". www.redgategallery.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "2022 | Red Gate Gallery". www.redgategallery.com. Retrieved 2024-02-29.
- ^ "30th Anniversary Group Show – Skoto Gallery". Retrieved 2024-02-29.