ARTIST STATEMENT
Joe Lewis is a non-media specific artist, and his work is usually project based. Typically, when he starts a project, he explores the subject territory as thoroughly as possible. Sometimes images come to him in waves, often pushing through the news of the day as the Bulls in Pamplona run through life’s textures. People, places, and things circumscribe his marks, objects, and sounds occasionally allowing him to see around corners. He believes, “looking into the future is not difficult. The problem is acceptance; accepting that lives can change due to actions done in the here and now. At times it’s just an errant word or aroma that lifts the curtain, because the present, as our future, is nothing more than multiple images; not just any images but the ordered relocation of our past.” And for him, peeking under that curtain reveals the base upon which rests our unconscious desires, whose ultimate goal is self-actualization.
RESUMES
AWARDS, COMMISSIONS, AND FELLOWSHIPS (selected)
2015 – Fljótstunga Residency Grant, Iceland
2013 – Curatorial Grant, “Let’s Get Lost: Polaroids from the Coast,” Photographs by Jim McHugh, at LAX Airport, Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles
2008 – Inducted into Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society Deutsche Bank Fellow, Photography, New York Foundation for the Arts
1999/01 – Lead Artist, Commission, Chandler Outdoor Gallery Project, 4/5ths of a mile of murals produced in the Chandler Corridor, 14 artists and local middle school, North Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency, CA
1998/11 – Listed in Who’s Who in American Art
1996 – Award of Excellence, Design Annual, Public Service, Communication Arts
1995 – Commission, California Towers Project, Riverside, CA National Endowment for the Arts, Exhibitions Grant, Hillwood Museum, Long Island University, NY
1992 – Commission, Art for Rail Transit, METRO/BLUE LINE, LACTC, Los Angeles, CA
1991 – Maryland State Arts Council, Fellowship, New Genres
1990 – Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, Artist in Residence Grant
1989-90 – Commission, Mayor’s Advisory Committee on Art and Culture, Baltimore, MD
1988-89 – Ford Foundation Fellowship Phillip Morris Graduate Fellowship
1987 – Listed in “Outstanding Young Men of America”
1983 – National Endowment for the Arts, Urban Studies Fellow
1982 – National Endowment for the Arts, Conceptual Art, Fellowship C.A.P.S., Multi-Media Fellowship
1976 – American Music Fellow, Salzburg Seminar, Austria
1975 – Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Academy of American Poets Award
COLLABORATIONS
I have collaborated with many wonderful artists, designers, and craft people over the years:
Francis Spitta, Graphic Designer, Los Angeles, CA
John Chiodini, musician, Los Angelas, CA
Ivan Dalla Tana, Photographer, Milan, Italy
Elizabeth Cote, glass artist, Brooklyn, NY
Mark Durham, artist, Los Angeles, CA
Maggie Reilly, Ram Studio, New York
Javier Valdivieso, ADM Works, Santa Ana, CA
Karen Atkinson, Los Angeles, CA
Richard Singer, E.T.I., Orange, NJ
Nathaniel Freeman, Neon, Minneapolis, MN
Lisa Kahane, Photographer, Bronx, NY
Jules Allen, Photographer, Hoboken, NJ
Jim Van Kirk, Dallas, TX
Joe Lewis Sr., Vocalist, New York, NY
Julius Eastman, Vocalist, New York, NY
Charlie Ahearn, Filmmaker, New York, NY
Jane Dickson, Painter, New York, NY
Takashi Kamiya, Architect, New York, NY
Ed Carl Tackett and Ben Dolan, Rapid-Tech Labs, University of California, Irvine, CA
Michael Kirchoff, Photographer, Los Angeles, CA
Joy Powell, Artist, Ypsilanti, MI
Devin Henry, Institute for Electronic Arts, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Bob Durham, Audio, Los Angeles, CA