NYArts Magazine - = Graceful Spontaneity in Peter Wayne Lewis=E2=80=99s Painting

From: Subject: =?Windows-1252?Q?NYArts_Magazine_-_Graceful_Spontaneity_in_Peter_Wayne_Le?= =?Windows-1252?Q?wis=92s_Painting_-_Ding_Ning?= Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 15:52:42 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0000_01C70997.404F9EE0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2962 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0000_01C70997.404F9EE0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://nyartsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6481&Itemid=199 =EF=BB=BF NYArts Magazine - = Graceful Spontaneity in Peter Wayne Lewis=E2=80=99s Painting - Ding = Ning

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Graceful Spontaneity in Peter Wayne = Lewis=E2=80=99s=20 Painting - Ding Ning

Peter=20 Wayne = Lewis

    My=20 American colleague Professor David = Carrier wrote=20 to me that I might find time in my = summer=20 vacation to have a look at his friend = Peter=20 Wayne Lewis=E2=80=99s one-person show = underway in=20 Beijing. He hoped that I could write = something=20 about the exhibition. However, Lewis is = a=20 totally unknown name to me and, as I = later=20 found, his show was to be held in a = somewhat=20 inaccessible venue and also that I would = have to=20 make a phone reservation. I hesitated to = go as I=20 hated to visit a gallery this way. = Further, due=20 to this inaccessibility and due to the = painter=E2=80=99s=20 personal website where I would have been = able to=20 survey his works in advance, I was only = able to=20 read his resume and had no idea what I = was going=20 to see.
    = Lewis=E2=80=99s show,=20 "Booster Paintings," turned out to be in = NY Arts=20 Gallery Beijing, which bears a seemingly = big=20 name but that only really resembles a = rather=20 shabby storehouse. Surprisingly, = however, when I=20 first saw Lewis=E2=80=99s paintings, I = was almost=20 instantly intrigued by them. His works = looked=20 extremely individual and refreshingly = lyrical.=20 Obviously, they deserved a better place = to show=20 and a much bigger Chinese=20 audience.
    On the = whole,=20 Lewis=E2=80=99s paintings almost = effortlessly acquire=20 what other abstract painters often fail = to=20 achieve. His paintings also surpass all=20 expectations and still testify to the = appeal of=20 abstract paintings; his improvisation is = neither=20 completely boundless nor predefined. = From the=20 original and rough conceptions to all = that=20 finally becomes embodied on canvas, = there are=20 both beforehand thoughts and = unpredictable=20 variations. His work makes me think of a = well-known Chinese idiom: = =E2=80=9CFortifications are=20 erected every time the troops make an = advance.=E2=80=9D=20 My guess is that this painter should = have had=20 some bliss when he came across expected = traces=20 of spontaneity.
    = His=20 abstract paintings open an alternative = world:=20 delicate, eye-pleasing, = imagination-stirring and=20 sometimes even touching. In most = abstract=20 paintings that I have viewed, there = seems to be=20 a tendency to seek striking = compositions,=20 vibrating color combinations or grand = scales.=20 Anyway, Lewis=E2=80=99s approach seemed = rather different=20 by pursuing a fairly tranquil flow of = mind.=20
    He preferred = strings,=20 which do not depict or refer to any = objects in=20 reality, but could subtly allow = one=E2=80=99s=20 imagination to roam at large. Whether he = painted=20 upon a large canvas or small one, he = always took=20 it upon himself to put what naturally = welled up=20 from his heart into a well-controlled = pattern of=20 color and line, which still conveyed a = pleasing=20 sense of naivet=C3=A9. Meanwhile, one = will most=20 likely not bother about what is depicted = in=20 Lewis=E2=80=99s painting, but will = instead find=20 something within them or adjust = themselves into=20 a fitting mood in order to respond to = the whole=20 of the traces in the paint. The viewer = might=20 then step on a journey with no definite = starting=20 point or destination. =
   =20 This kind of viewing experience is = interesting=20 and, in a sense, fairly close to what = one goes=20 through in viewing Song literati = landscape=20 painting. It is not at all easy for the = painter=20 to get rid of stiff references and to = manage=20 always to imply or suggest a more poetic = direction, while at the same time = clinging to a=20 coherently personal and elegant style. = Lewis was=20 masterly in organizing all of his = painting=20 elements in such a balanced way; = everything=20 looked randomly displayed, but one could = not add=20 anything else. I believe that what an = abstract=20 painter seeks is like the stage that the = old=20 master, Shi Tao described: =E2=80=9CThe = top painting=20 method is becoming of no = method.=E2=80=9D Then, an open=20 and suggestive world will emerge on = canvas. I do=20 not know to what Lewis aspires next, = but, as a=20 curator for an international biennale in = Beijing, I just expect to see more of = his songs=20 of Solomon here in the=20 = future.

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