One Eyed Jacks Painting

Mitch Lewis New York, NY - United States STUDIO New York, NY 917-873-6006 Born in The Bronx, NY in 1947, Mitch Lewis’ involvement with art began with his father, whose sign painting, in addition to supplementing the family’s income, influenced his love of art. Having attended public schools in New York City, Lewis worked toward a BA and MA in Art at Hunter College of the City of New York, where he was inspired by the work of Abstract Expressionists/Minimalists, Ralph Humphrey, Robert Huot, Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler, Adolf Gotlieb and Tony Smith. During his college years, Lewis embraced hard-edge geometric paintings, eventually defying neat categorization into any one movement and developing his own ground rules of how his art is made and perceived. “My paintings are journeys through life,” he admits, “narratives that the viewer can enjoy and interpret.” “Still, they’re not unconstrained,” he continues. “Years of art training at Hunter taught me that!” Lewis talks about the origins of his subject matter and the allegorical style, which is steeped in the biblical stories and Old Testament folklore he learned as a youth. Although his paintings approach an intended moral and spiritual milieu, their implications exist only in terms of the language of expression. He distributes paint purposely, while bringing a vigor and expressiveness to each of his canvases. Powerfully intense, the forms, lines, shapes and colors are unexpected, surprising, sexy, fun and sometimes aggressive. “I look for spiritual insights to provide me with normality and a proper balance in life,” he states, adding that he’s not sure he’ll ever find them. “I explore human sensuality and the relationship between men, women and the environment,” he continues. Events that have impacted his life – moving apartments and studios, marrying his wife Linda, siring and raising two children, the bombing of the World Trade Towers and its rebuilding, and seeing his first grandchild – are evident in the hieroglyphic quality of his work. He invites the viewer to decipher the message or to interpret the meaning of the painting according to his/her own sensibility. Colored borders around his paintings, which Lewis drew in the last several years, not only define the space but also the event. SELECTED EXHIBITIONS 2016: Carter Burden Gallery Chelsea, NY Jan.