Stanley Lewis

Hello followers!  With the new season upon us, we are reinvigorated and are re-encouraged to record our thoughts and adventures! 

Stanley Lewis, Westport, 2010-2014, oil on canvas 21.25 by 35.25 inches

Stanley Lewis at Betty Cunningham Gallery

Betty Cunningham Gallery has moved to the LES so we had quite the adventure taking the subway down and navigating new territory.  The space was absolutely outstanding and beautiful. 

“You have to learn what abstraction is in order to understand what painting is.”    ~ Stanley Lewis

 “Abstraction” is an interesting thought to ruminate while viewing the show.  This thought has been with me for the last couple of days, slowly digesting and coloring the lens through which I view painting.  Abstracting is a perfect word to describe the liberty Lewis takes with paint application while still maintaining picture integrity.  This is no small feat.  It is as if the landscape that Lewis observes is merely a convenience for the opportunity to apply paint and build texture. 

Most, but not all of the paintings in the show were thick with paint, celebrating paint for the sake of paint.  We loved the beautiful texture that followed the heavy paint application that made the work incredibly rich and interesting to view up close, but also that the images became startlingly photorealistic from afar. 

The drawings were stunning.  Lewis’s line quality was precise and confident without being finicky or belabored.  I love that line is such an important element in his work.  I enjoyed how many ways he could manipulate paint to form hard and soft lines, but also let his painting surface choice dictate compositionally pleasing linear edges.  In every instance, the addition of a new panel to the piece creates an opportunity for visual play. 

For more information go to: http://www.bettycuninghamgallery.com/current_exhibition.aspx