Through the found window | Andrew Lewis

From 18 January 2025, Galerie Martin van Zomeren presents Through the found Window, Andrew Lewis's second exhibition at the gallery.

Looking and seeing. What do we expect and hope to find?
In an artwork, perhaps at times, the pleasing relationship of form, line, and colour. Yes, or perhaps also an intriguing interplay of ideas. Yes.

In this second exhibition at Galerie Martin van Zomeren, Lewis appears to be interested in looking. Not only at his enigmatic sculptures, which we sometimes encounter in a gallery and sometimes outside in nature… Sometimes suspended…

What do the viewers in these charismatic paintings see within the inner life of the sculptures? What are the onlookers in each of the images looking at? They see scenes that are observations of our society; as it is now, or as it was in the past, at times drawing connections between the two.

Through his narrative sculptures, Lewis has created a new visual language. A recurring thread connecting us to the past is the inexorable, teleological progress of our species. Generally, this progress manifests in the form of technological advancement. The image Faraday Shielding shows us this, as does Unified Theory, where electromagnetism, in the form of telegram and radar, has protected the organism that is the United Kingdom.

Spectacle and the scale of sculptures are other interests of Lewis. In the paintings Who's Denise Please? and Not only, but also, we see the playful handling of a sculpture on an architectural scale viewed across two distinct, complementary contexts. The first features two intrigued viewers, whereas in the second picture, depicting a commercial retail environment, the focus lies on the interaction between the people within the composition rather than the sculpture itself.

To return to looking itself: in the picture Not very far from Mount Aleppo, we witness the anxious gaze of two onlookers. The depicted hamster is a simple, rather fearful-looking creature whose species originates from a complex, turbulent part of our planet. This region, like all parts of the world, will ultimately evolve toward positive progress.

Text: Andrew Lewis
Argenton-sur-Creuse, France