Press Release
Skoto Gallery is pleased to present Paintings from the Middle Earth Part IV, an exhibition of recent paintings by the Jamaican-American artist Peter Wayne Lewis. This will be his first solo exhibition at the gallery. The artist will be at the reception on Thursday, January 17th, 2013n nPeter Wayne Lewis’s work exudes exuberant energy and vitality that draws on a highly developed experimental approach to making art that seeks to balance spatial and structural concerns with an awareness of a vast array of both formal and inherited traditions, deep sensitivity to texture, tonality and color. A master of lyrical and sensitive lines, he uses resplendent curves and fluid lines that utilizes a particular rigor and economy which encourages a clarity of intent and simplicity of execution. There is a high degree of originality in his work that belies a surprising seamlessness between the natural world and the world of imagination. There is also value for spontaneity and improvisation in his work that engages the viewer directly and viscerally as ideas are distilled into swirling or meandering marks fused with sophisticated tonalities and a desire to portray social, spiritual and utopian transformations that speak clearly and boldly to a universal audience. The question of where the inside and outside world meet, the ambiguity of space and surface tension are formally resolved in his work by an emphasis on concept and process over end product while maintaining rigorous affirmative critical propositions about discrete cultural and historical realities.n nFor the artist whose work is persistently innovative and ignores boundaries between different cultural heritages and socially constructed constraints, the interplay of intention and accident, curiosity and discovery as well as the ability to reduce forms and ideas to their essence are inherent qualities that help convey the true harmonies of his artistic vision, and as recently stated by the artist. “I am concerned with how to feel the lyrical rhythm of the world. Intention is in my paintings. For me, the painting is about order, chaos, gravity, speed, time and light. These are the building blocks of the ephemeral world in which we dwell. My goal is to look deeper and leave a residue of that investigation”. His influences are diverse and include nature, physics and the String Theory that discusses the majesty of existence and the Cosmos as well as Jazz music. The syncopated and disjunctive rhythmic complexity in this uniquely African-American music genre called jazz epitomizes the boundless imagination and inventiveness inherent in his work. The selection in this exhibition evokes the expansive possibilities of life and art in a world of changing realities and ceaseless change.n nPeter Wayne Lewis was born in Kingston, Jamaïca, West Indies and moved to the United States in 1962 where his family made their home in Sacramento. California. He received his Master of Arts degree in painting in 1979 from San Jose State University of California and became a US naturalized citizen in 1983. He is Professor of Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Boston, MA and former Chairman of Fine Art 2D. He has exhibited extensively in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, USA and Asia. He is in numerous public and private collections at home and abroad. He currently resides in South Orange, NJ, Boston, MA and Beijing, China.n nThis exhibition is accompanied by an e-catalog with an introduction by Skoto Aghahowa and essay by Dr. Babacar M’Bow.n n n nPETER WAYNE LEWIS: Ideas about Paintingsn nI am from Kingston, Jamaica, a Caribbean melting pot. I came to the United States when I was nine years old and, after many years I still do not have a sense of being at home; even though I have become an American citizen. I’m still trying to find stasis. When I am painting, this becomes reflected in a deliberate uncomfortable formal balance. Being an immigrant is crucial because it determines how one thinks about stability. It’s the imbalance that creates the tension in the work. I have an understanding of imbalance, this adds psychological charge to the work, which makes it more animated.n nThroughout my travels as an artist, I have visited many countries, including Senegal, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Czech-Republic, Cuba, Panama, Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan and, over the last four years, China. My migration has led me to leasing a studio space in Beijing. The contemporary Chinese art scene has exploded on the world stage and I wanted to bear witness to it as an artist and educator.n nPainting is a ritual act for me. I’m trying to discover a link to the spiritual. I aim to transcend the flesh. Ritual describes something greater than it is. It becomes a connection to intangible things, the realm of the spiritual. For me a ritual act is a bridge to different sorts of experiences. The shaman bridges the realms of flesh and spirit to bring back knowledge that can be shared. My religious beliefs are akin to those of the shaman. I am devoted to making these pictures. I don’t want my paintings to be passive objects. I want them to generate excitement, questioning, even intrigue. Some perceived imbalance or discord allows movement and rhythm. I’m very conscious of the formal attributes. I teach those compositional elements of formal balance, harmony, and unity. Personally, I’m trying to shake that up in my work. I’m trying to find other ways of creating harmony, ways that generate some uneasiness.n nWe are formed in darkness and born into the light. There is a metaphorical structure in the work. I do not present a mimetic pictorial structures. The picture suggests images of the natural world: trees, sky, and earth. I can’t deny that. But I’m not consciously painting things I see. I’m interested in the phenomenon of the horizon that separates the opaque earth from the transparent sky. I paint primarily at night where there is a different presence of light, the nocturnal energy – a different kind of stillness. I’m interested in graceful Chinese calligraphy and Japanese sumi ink paintings. It was interesting to be introduced to the work of the master painter, Ba Da Shan Ren (1626-1705) of China, during my painting session in Beijing last year. I saw parallel pictorial relationships between his work and mine. This is the beauty and education of travel.n nThere’s an idea in string theory that we exist as strings. We’re vibrating strings. This idea links physics to my great love, music. According to string theory, if we could magnify a point, we would actually see a vibrating string. Matter is a series of points, not unlike a strand of DNA. The vibration of the strings creates harmony. The laws of physics can be compared to the laws of harmony. The universe can be compared to countless vibrating strings. The universe is a symphony of color and light.n nIn 1982 I traveled to Europe to see the pre-historic cave paintings at Lascaux and Peche Mehrle. I think of these caves, demarcated by the stalagmites and stalactites, as earth’s first Gothic cathedrals. I had a pretty profound experience. I was overwhelmed. I started thinking about architecture, ritual space, the animals, and things that threaten us. I cried. Those paintings altered what I was doing. I’ve always been interested in building images that move people in similar ways. I have a great love for the materiality of paint – the tactile sensation, scarification of the paint, that writhing, dancing movement of the pigmented mud.n nThere’s a comfortable melding between my sensibility and paint. My body feels it. It makes sense for me. My choice to paint the unknown hopefully leads to some sort of resonance, something of permanent value. I strive to present reflections of my collective inner-world. They are not meant to inform, but to transform. Ultimately, the paintings live and die in the eyes of the viewer.
Beijing, China, 9-2011
