How The West Was Won

Mon 30 May 2011 – Sat 2 Jul 2011

An Exhibition by Jack Lewis
30 May – 2 July 2011

The Tricycle gallery presents a series of drawings and paintings by Jack Lewis exploring images of the American Wild West and Native American Folklore.

Deserted and unknowable landscapes, reminiscent of rural America or vast wastelands, are inhabited by isolated individuals, often children, a possible metaphor for the artist himself perhaps whose American father he never knew. Repeatedly using a 1950’s style figure in various guises, Lewis’s youthful characters are somewhat at odds with what they are doing, but none the less undertake some sort of mysteriously candid physical activity to which the viewer seems invited.

The artist uses found photographs as well as those from his personal archive, along with sources stripped from the web, as a platform from which to create works. The artist does not impose any implicit definition to the reading of his works, allowing his audience to be enveloped and seduced by these implied narratives which host a bleak array of figures and objects.

Having graduated from Central Saint Martins in June 2009, Lewis has developed his practice significantly over the past eighteen months, exhibiting regularly on a solo and group level with HRL Contemporary – with whom he is represented, as well as the artists collective S P A C E C R A F T and the Mirabel Open Studios in Manchester.

www.hrlcontemporary.com
www.spacecraftprogram.co.uk