dale lewis full english - artforum · 2017. 4. 29. · thomas couture, romans in the decadence of...
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DALELEWIS FullEnglishMay11–June30,2017 OpeningReception:Thursday,May11,6-8PMAnna Zorina Gallery is pleased to announce Full English, the first U.S. soloexhibition of London-based artist Dale Lewis. This will be the artist’s firstexhibition with the gallery. The show features his latest mural-sized oilpaintings that depict scenes from his own life. The artist unleashes thepersonal stories with stream-of-conscious immediacy as a means ofpreservingthevividimpressionsthathavebeenengrainedinhismemory.Bynot retouching and refining the work over time, Lewis captures a morehonestportrayalofhissubconsciousaswellasdocumentingthedisorientingeffectsoftimeonrecollection.Ask for a Full English in the UK and youwill get a bountiful plate of friedbreakfastfood.DaleLewishasotherplansthough.Inhistitularpainting,theartistservesupasceneofunsavorydebaucheryfueledbycopiousamountsofbeer and cigarettes. The artist is portraying his working-class friends andfamily,exposingtheircarefreeattitudeandrefusaltoliveastheyaretold.Theartistmanipulates the title to suggest a culturally ingrained lifestyle ratherthanthetypicalonce-a-weekoccurrenceofanindulgentbreakfast.Thelargecanvassesconfronttheviewerandallowforamoregradualrecognitionofthedisparitybetweenwhatisexpectedandwhatisactuallypresented.Lewisincorporatesthecompositionsofmajorhistoricalpaintingsintoeachofhis works to create amerger between high and lowbrow. The Full Englishpainting is based on Thomas Couture’s “Romans in the Decadence of theEmpire,”a19thCenturyworkthatalsodepictsatangleofdrunkenpartiers.Coutureframesthecentraldepravitywithfiguresthatlookonwithscornasameans of instilling his ownmoral standing into the piece. However, Lewisdoes not include these elements of judgment into his works. Instead bypresenting an impartial perspective, he transfers the critical role onto theviewer. Although the base of the compositionsmay be tied to the past, themethodofsociologicalobservationisthoroughlycontemporary.DaleLewiswasborninLondon,1980.LewisreceivedanMFAfromUniversityof Brighton (UK) in 2006. He is a recipient of the 2016 Jerwood PaintingFellowship. In 2016, Ken Johnson highlighted Lewis’s work in a New YorkTimesarticlethatdistinguishedthetopeightboothsatthatyear’sNADANewYork. His paintings are represented in numerous prestigious private andpublic collections including the Saatchi Collection, Susan and Michael HortCollectionandDavidRobertsArtFoundation.Forfurtherinformation,pleasecontactMarieNyquistat212-243-2100orviaemailatmarie@annazorinagallery.com.
ThomasCouture,RomansintheDecadenceoftheEmpire,186x304inches,oiloncanvas,1847.
DaleLewis,FullEnglish,78x157inches,oil,acrylic,spraypaintoncanvas,2017.