Zane Lewis is an American Visual Artist based in Brooklyn, New York. His abstract paintings and sculptures reference color field painting, pointillism, phenomenology, and minimalism. And have been stylistically referred to as 'psychedelic minimalism'. The acclaimed New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, called Lewis' paintings "skillfully spray-painted whose shifting tonalities and densities have a glowing, slightly psychedelic look suggesting an admiration for Jules Olitski, the California Light and Space movement and Las Vegas. Spray-painted with diaphanous textures, delicate and unexpectedly beautiful." Lewis' works contain a phenomenological aura pushing the notion of direct experience upon the viewer. This essence becomes part of Lewis' tool kit as he forces those to engage his paintings sculpturally, a "Turrellian approach" to painting.
Zane Lewis often blurs conventional distinctions between painting and sculpture. Early in his career he presented his work in installation-like formats hanging canvases with printed-images, then painting them onsite in the gallery. The paint dripped on the floor would become part of the exhibition. In a further extension of his practice, he created new works cut from the dried paint puddles left behind. Lewis referred to recycling and "remixing" images like a DJ. Lewis's unique drip painting technique allowed different colors of paint to combine without mixing while retaining a wet look. These cascades of paint leaked from canvases and spilled onto the floor of the exhibition space. Christopher Bollen, Editor-in-Chief of Interview Magazine, called this method of Lewis' "making art bleed." "The artist allows the gash to “bleed” brightly colored paint, in order to express a transient and dying glamor." Lewis' mix of abstraction and appropriated images caught the attention of The Wall Street Journal who included Lewis in the article "The 23-Year Old Masters," along with artists Ryan Trecartin, Jordan Wolfson and Dash Snow in a selection of ten top young US artists. Lewis has exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art in conjunction with Phillips de Pury and was featured as a "Groundbreaker" artist in groundbreaking ceremony for the new location in lower Manhattan.
Stylistic Shift
Between 2010-2013 Lewis' website stated he was dead, however this was proven false. During that time period Lewis distanced himself from exhibiting and his involvement with the art world. Lewis marks this as a "transitional period," which certain elements of his work "had to die." Here marks the artists rejection of imagery and a shift toward total abstraction. Lewis is known to avoid interviews and to have denied reputable collectors studio visits or only allowing them to view his studio by themselves.
