Art Professor Michael Lewis Exhibit Opens at Carnegie Galleries
Contact: MaJo Keleshian, 581-3267; George Manlove, 581-3756
ORONO — An exhibit of 30 recent landscape paintings by UMaine art professor Michael Lewis currently is on exhibit at the University of Maine Department of Art’s Carnegie Gallery 1 at Carnegie Hall on the Orono campus.
“Michael Lewis, Recent Paintings,” will be on display from Feb. 10 through March 16, with an opening reception Friday, Feb.10 from 5-7 p.m. The public is welcome to the exhibit and reception. Both are free. Carnegie Hall hours are weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Known for unusually luminous landscapes created through a technique that employs oil paints applied to a paper surface washed in turpentine, Lewis says he continues to be drawn, after 31 years working with the turpentine wash technique, to the “distinct quality of sensuality and a subtle expressive energy” that results.
“I would like to create paintings in which the viewer recognizes the reality of a landscape, but does not get locked into the ‘present moment’ by overly detailed physical descriptions,” Lewis says. “My hope is to invite movement from the particulars of the external world to a timeless inner space that is at once more personal, emotional and spiritual.”
He adds that the spontaneous and improvisational nature of the turpentine wash process fosters his excitement with on-going technical innovation and the continuing evolution of the conceptual framework that landscape provides.
“I begin the painting process with repeated visits to specific landscape sites,” he says. “Later, in the isolation of my studio, I work from memory and invention rather than from studies or photographs. There is no pre-planning