Solo exhibition

Am See

Spencer LewisGalerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, ViennaSeptember 5 – October 19, 2024

Work made during a summer residency on Lake Millstatt, Austria: large paintings on watercolour paper, oils and acrylics on jute and linen, and watercolours, with the lake as both subject and material.

Lewis’s painterly exploration expresses itself in the interplay of color, of abstraction and figuration, of various media and formats. Large works on watercolor paper are the focal point of this body of work, literally absorbing the lake itself. Indeed, the roll of paper was first dipped into the lake water and then smoothed out in anticipation of the artist’s application of vibrant lines, patches of color and trickling traces of paint overlaid to form an expressive structure of interwoven layers.

The two large-format acrylic paintings on jute can also be read as a commentary on their origins. Within the exhibition space, they are free-floating: attached to the ceiling merely by a wooden slat and a length of cord. Like the sails of a boat the jute flutters in the wind and, with it, the expressive impasto painting. The lake as cipher is also present in Lewis’s delicate watercolors. The silhouette of a boat defines the pictorial space — sailboats under clear skies or sailing towards the sunset. Sketches of postcard idylls and memories of summer. Am See.

From the introduction by Florian Steininger, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, 2024. Read the full press release

Installation views

The works are rough, sketchy and there were no limits.
Spencer Lewis, quoted by Florian Steininger, Am See, 2024

Installation view, Am See, Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Galerie nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder.