Solo exhibition

Put a Mess

Spencer LewisMASSIMODECARLO, MilanOctober 5 – November 4, 2023

Lewis’s first exhibition in Italy. Twelve paintings on jute, their marks crowding toward the centre of each canvas and stopping just short of legibility.

MASSIMODECARLO is delighted to present Put a Mess by Los Angeles-based artist Spencer Lewis, marking his debut exhibition in Italy. The title of the show is an intriguing cypher, a dynamic exploration in the enacting of chaos and turmoil. Lewis invites us into a realm, the canvas where painting becomes a space of deliberate crafting and inventive disarray.

As Lewis immerses himself in the language of painting, he grapples with the concept of his work akin to the movement of Action Painting, sparking questions about the very nature of the artistic act and the degree of control exerted on the canvas. Within this orchestrated mess, an undeniable energy emanates from each brushstroke— wet, dry, matte, shiny, muddy and garish, covered with glass beads or soil, scumbled, glazed sfumato and broken, opaque transparent, languid and agitated, splattered, ham-fisted, wiped, sprayed, teased, brushed, hand printed, pallet knifed, stick painted and whole bodied.

From the press release, MASSIMODECARLO, Milan, 2023. Read the full press release