Peter Lewis

I have been mutating, mutilating and reconfiguring popular culture and its images since 1990. Much to the consternation of my mother, more than one school report observed that I was “off in a world of my own”. To be frank I found immersion in the world of the imagination to be much more captivating than learning maths on a hot summer afternoon, and I still feel that way now.

My work is all about other worlds and realities; I’m very interested in what these might be like. I also have an enduring interest in the world of dreams and how they can be self-contained yet also be populated with characters and objects from waking life. The untethered mind will come up with some crazy recipes using familiar ingredients!

I try to translate this into my work by taking recognisable or familiar images and recontextualising them, placing them in new environments to give them the ambiguous suggestion of symbolic significance. The result, I hope, is what a friend of mine once referred to as “a mixed-up world of meaning and non-meaning”. The viewer is encouraged to find their own interpretation of each piece.

Another key theme of my work is layers: literal layers of images cut and pasted into the collages themselves, as well as layers of meaning ...

Solo Shows
‘Oculus Internus’, Agency Tattoo, Dunedin NZ – August 2021
‘This World is Your Oyster’, Mint Gallery, Dunedin NZ – September 2014
‘Masters of the Glue-niverse’ (with Marty Gordon) – Gallery 6 PDX, Portland OR, USA – December 2013
‘Fiendish Comix’ – DUD Comics, Port Chalmers NZ – September 2013
‘My Little Empire’ – None Gallery, Dunedin NZ – July 2011
‘My Little Empire’ – ROAR! Gallery, Wellington NZ – February 2011
‘”Seven Days” series and other works’ – Modaks Cafe, Dunedin NZ – September 2009
‘”Seven Days” series and other works’ – Visual Intelligence Tattoo Studio, Dunedin NZ – June 2009
‘Untitled’ – Design Withdrawals, Palmerston NZ – September 2008
‘Untitled’ – Vent Creative Outlet, Port Chalmers NZ – October 2006
‘Scalpelicious’ – ROAR! Gallery, Wellington NZ – September 2006
‘Postcard From Cutesville’ – Cleveland Living Arts Centre, Dunedin NZ – May / June 2006
Tangente Cafe, Dunedin NZ – April 2005
The Strip Gallery, Dunedin NZ – December 2004
Dunedin City Council Offices, Dunedin NZ – December 2004
Tanya Carlson Designer Waiting Room, Dunedin NZ – October / November 2004
Percolator Cafe, Dunedin NZ – May / June 2004
‘The Best of Both Worlds’ – Introspect Gallery, Dunedin NZ – March 2004

Group Shows
Art Ache Dun...