Dale Lewis

Lewis’ boisterous tableaux of urban debauchery highlight the very real yet often ignored depravities that flow through our contemporary existence and reveal dichotomies that define today’s society. Drawing from his own life experiences and the scenes he has witnessed over the years, Lewis often paints mundane scenes of everyday life and turns them into feverish spectacles, creating allegorical compositions that are rooted in both over-the-top phantasmagoria and social realism.

The result is a visual language equal parts Martin Parr meets Chris Morris, Rembrandt-cum-Basquiat; plausibly grotesque, amplified to absurdity, narrative-laden and energetically complex. Dale Lewis (b. 1980) earned a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from London Guildhall in 2002, followed by a Master of Fine Arts from Brighton in 2006, and completed the Turps Studio Programme in 2015. Lewis has held a number of solo exhibitions, including ‘No Place Like Home’ at Block 336 in London (2021); ‘The Great Day’ at Edel Assanti in London (2020); ‘Free Range’ at Nino Mier Gallery in LA (2019), and ‘Hope Street’ at CHOI&LAGER Gallery in Seoul (2018). Lewis’ institutional exhibitions include ‘The Day I Saw You” at Museo de la Cancillería in Mexico City (2021) and ‘Friends and Friends of Friends’ at the Schlossmuseum in Linz (2020). Lewis received 2016 Jerwood Painting Fellowship, and his’ 33-metre-long painting, The Great Day, was included in the inaugural exhibition of Art Matters Museum in Hangzhou, China in 2021. Lewis’ permanent 8-meter-high mural at Picturehouse’s newest central London cinema was unveiled that same year. Lewis currently lives and works in London.

데일 루이스는 향락에 빠진 현대 도시상을 그리며 우리의 삶 속 분명 존재하지만 종종 방관과 부정의 대상이 되는 다양한 사회적 부패를 강조하고 현대사회 깊숙이 자리잡은 상반되는 이념 및 요소들을 조명한다. 개인적 서사와 직접 목격한 상황들을 회화로써 화폭에 펼치는 작가는 지극히 일상적인 장면을 토대로 광란의 스테이지를 구축하고, 과장된 환상과 사회적 사실주의가 뒤섞인 우화적 내러티브를 만들어간다.

데일 루이스 (Dale Lewis, 영국, 1980 년 출생)는 2002 년 런던 길드홀에서 미술 학사 학위를, 2006 년 브라이튼에서 미술 석사 학위를 수료하였고 2015 년에 터프스 스튜디오 프로그램을 수료하였다. 루이스는 런던 Block 336 갤러리에서 ‘No Place Like Home’ (2021), 런던 Edel Assanti 갤러리에서 ‘The Great Day’(2020), LA Nino Mier 갤러리에서 ‘Free Range’(2019), 서울 초이앤초이 갤러리에서 ‘Hope Street’(2018) 등 다수의 개인전을 선보인 바 있으며, 멕시코시티의 Museo de la Cancillería 에서 ‘The Day I Saw You’(2021), 린츠의 Schlossmuseum에서 ‘Friends and Friends of Friends’(2020) 등 기관 전시를 가진 바 있다. 루이스는 2016 년 Jerwood Painting Fellowship 을 수상하였다. 루이스의 33 미터 길이의 대형 회화 The Great Day 는 2021 년 중국 항저우에서 열린 Art Matters Museum의 개관전에 포함되었고, 같은 해 완공된 런던 중심부 시네마 Picturehouse 에서 작가의 8 미터 높이의 벽화가 공개되었다. 루이스는 현재 런던에서 거주하며 작업 중이다.

Born in 1980, London, UK

Lives and works in London, UK

EDUCATION

2002

London Guildhall University, BA in Fine Art, London, UK

2006

University of Brighton, MA in Fine Art, Brighton, UK

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024

(forthcoming) The Great Day - Art Matters, Hangzhou, China

2023

SWEET AND SOUR, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul, KR

2022

The Great Day - Art Matters, Hangzhou, China

2021

No Place Like Home, Block 336, London, UK

2020

The Great Day, Edel Assanti, London, UK

2018

Free Range, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, US
Fat, Sugar, Salt, Edel Assanti, London, UK

2017

Iconoclasts: Art out of the Mainstream, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK
Full English, Anna Zorina Gallery, New York, NY, US
Dale Lewis, Art Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Figure Out, Union Gallery, London, UK
Jerwood Painting Fellowship, Norwich University of the Art, Norwich, UK

2016

Dale Lewis, NADA, New York, NY, US
Dale Lewis, Edel Assanti, London, UK
Hope Street, Choi and Lager Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023

HUMAN, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul

2022

Memento, Sixty Six, London
MacArthur Park, Cromwell Place in association with Ridley Road Project Space, curated by Will Ballantyne-Reid, London
FLOWER, CHOI&CHOI Gallery

2021