Spencer Lewis
Spencer Lewis (b. 1979 in Hartford, CT), received his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2001 and his MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Throughout his career, Lewis has worked with jute, cardboard, bronze and assemblage; often with paint and always with space. Space, how to negotiate it, imply it or fill it, is the purpose of a practice that is as much interested in the intervention a painting poses within a given environment as the painting itself. In his Los Angeles studio Lewis explores this space, pinning it to canvas, assembling dynamically painted windows into a plain of intersecting marks, arching and thrashing to form billowing compositions of rich colour. Whilst his works may range in scale, a raw physicality abounds throughout the brute lines of oil, acrylic, enamel and ink smeared, struck and scooped onto a weathered, giving surface. Whether rendered in hazy mists, neon slashes or fibrous folds, Lewis’ mark making is unbridled, his palette always expanding.
Spencer Lewis lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Education
2008 MFA University of California, Los Angeles
2001 BFA Rhode Island School of Design
Solo Exhibitions
2023
Put a Mess, MASSIMODECARLO, Milan
2022
Odds & Sods, Josh Lilley, London
Jacques Lewis, Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York, NY Jacques (Pink and Purple Paintings for My Dad), Harper’s Chelsea, New York, NY
Sending, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong
2021
Susan Mary, Vito Schnabel Gallery, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Four New Works, Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York, NY
Six Jutes (2), Harper’s Chelsea, New York, NY
Turnip (two kinds of violence), Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels, Belgium
On Valentines, Canada, New York, NY
2020
Six Jutes (1), Harper’s Chelsea, New York, NY
Literacy Devolves into Violence, Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY
2019
Spencer Lewis, Harper’s Apartment, New York, NY
2017
Violet Paintings for the Red and Blue Studio, Harper’s Apartment, New York, NY
2016
Evil Baby Bully Part Object Paintings, Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Savage Curio: Spencer Lewis and Eamon Ore-Giron, Et Al, San Francisco, CA
2014
Paint Object, Edward Cella, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Powerful Emptiness, Hayworth Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Group Exhibitions
2023
The Descendants, K11 MUSEA, Hong Kong
Intersection, Charles Riva Collection, Brussels
Sounds of Blackness, Larry Ossei-Mensah, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Manila
2022
Reflections: Partly Fiction, Woaw Gallery, Hong Kong
2021
Fabrics, Goodwill SoCal, Los Angeles, CA
I Care Because You Do, The Mass, Curated by Matt Black, Tokyo, Japan
2020
Isolation is the Mother of Invention Part I, Kathryn Brennan Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
A Doctor, a Painter, and an Alchemist Walk into a Bar: Alchemist, DRx Romanelli, Spencer Lewis (album collaboration and installation), Over the Influence, Los Angeles, CA
2019
Ecdysis II, Ltd, Los Angeles, CA
Ecdysis, MAS, Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, Belgium
Nine, No Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mind, Body, Soul with Maysha Mohamedi and Samuel Jablon, Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Six artists: Theresa Chromati Adam Henry Spencer Lewis Caitlin Lonegan Emily Mae Smith Tim Wilson, Harper’s Books, East Hampton, NY
Vision Valley, The Pit, Glendale, CA
Carry the Bend, Brennan and Griffin, New York, NY
Indulge by John Wolf, Art Movement, Los Angeles, CA
Common Room by Even Trine, Finishing Concepts, Los Angeles, CA
Group show, Shoulder Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2015
Unbound, Edward Cella, Los Angeles, CA
2014
6018 Wilshire, Edward Cella, Los Angeles, CA
After Image, Carl Berg, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
2012
Venice Beach Biennial, Monique van Genderen, Los Angeles, CA
2011
Immanent Domain Part One, Allen Tombello, West Los Angeles Community College, Los Angeles, CA
Immanent Domain Part Two, Allen Tombello, Arena1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2010
Larval Stages, Nathan Danolovich, Latned Astar, Los Angeles, CA
2009
Lovable Like Orphan Kitties and Bastard Children, Josh Aster Kristen Calabrese, The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI Boofthle Booth – Booth: Deux / The Hollywood Biennale, Mateo Tannat, Pauline, Los Angeles, CA
Feelings and Power, Rowan Wood, Five Thirty Three Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008
Black Dragon Society Group Show, Black Dragon Society, Los Angeles, CA
Boofthle (Booth - Booth), Mateo Tannatt, Pauline, Los Angeles, CA
Some Paintings- LA Weekly Biennial Doug Harvey, Track 16, Los Angeles, CA
2007
The Ones Who Stayed Longer, Inmo Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006
Landslide - Young Los Angeles Artists, Addison Ripley, Washington D.C.
Press
CV
Exhibitions
Odds & Sods
Solo Show