B170124141344 001

When I Felt Like I Could Sing That, Then I Felt Like I Was In

Tony Lewis

日期
09.02.2017 | 08.04.2017
画廊
London

“...I liked to go out with Dizzy because I used to get thrilled listening to them when he did his bebop. That’s actually the way I feel I learned what you call bop. It was quite an experience, and he used to always tell me, ‘Come on up and do it with the fellas.’ That was my education in learning how to really bop. We used to do OoBop-Sh’Bam-a-Klook-a-Mop.’ That’s one of the first things I remember he used to do... and that fascinated me. When I felt like I could sing that, then I felt like I was in.” - Ella Fitzgerald

Massimo De Carlo London is pleased to present When I Felt Like I Could Sing That, Then I Felt Like I Was In, an exhibition by Tony Lewis that will present a new body of work, shown for the first time.

Tony Lewis’s practice focuses on the relationship between semiotics and language: graphite pencil and paper are the mediums the artist uses to trace and create abstract narratives and reflections on the notion of the gestural. When I Felt Like I Could Sing That, Then I Felt Like I Was In embodies the artists’ research for pure abstraction: tracing the conclusion of a research process that started in his earlier series of drawings titled Gregg Shorthand.

This new body of work, where graphite and coloured pencils generate impulsive and rhythmic shapes on paper, is intended by Lewis as a further exploration of the Gregg Shorthand system* and its connection to sound, speech and pulse. In this series of drawings seemingly simple abstractions conceal intricate narratives, “beginning with a phoneme gesture as the systematic foundation (of the drawing), the coloured pencil works to support, react to, and riff off of the initial rhythm put forth by linguistic sound, creating a sequence of improvisation, and a diagram of cosmic libido.”

Each drawing in the exhibition results as a take on planned yet raw abstraction. Fragments of phonetics and colour form a visual and musical composition of chatter and shapes, which merge together to offer a reflection on the convergence of sound, language and tones.

Tony Lewis

托尼·刘易斯 1986 年出生于洛杉矶。 他目前在芝加哥生活和工作。


刘易斯的实践侧重于符号学和语言之间的关系,以应对种族、权力、交流和劳工等社会和政治话题。 刘易斯使用石墨、铅笔和纸进行绘画,艺术家使用这些媒介来追踪和发展抽象叙事以及对手势概念的反思。 通过突破绘画的界限和抽象的可能性,他扩展了语言“材料”的使用。 正如赫希霍恩博物馆馆长 Melissa Chiu 所言:“刘易斯通过形成独特的视觉语汇,将诗歌和文本与抽象属性融为一体,迅速在当代艺术界站稳了脚跟,他的单色绘画取材于各种视觉和书面来源 ,从个人到政治。 他通过分离、重新排列和删除文本,改变了我们在语言中移动的方式,从而开辟了新的、意想不到的阅读方式。


刘易斯参加了 2014 年在纽约惠特尼美国艺术博物馆举办的惠特尼双年展,并获得了布兰代斯大学罗斯艺术博物馆 2017-2018 年露丝·安和内森·珀尔穆特驻场艺术家奖 ,马萨诸塞州沃尔瑟姆

Tony Lewis Portrait 3 m7 In0y