Los Angeles based painter Kris Lewis has a new exhibition opening May 20, 2011 at David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, Colorado. “Lewis’s portraits are unique in the emotional involvement he invokes in his viewers. His works depict characters caught between strength and fragility, creating a feeling of mystery and isolation. They are painted within environments that are both unexpected and out of the ordinary. Lewis explains, “I want them to be real, but off slightly, so that viewers ask, what is odd about this?” The figures are incredibly realistic, but somewhere in the portrait is a subtle distortion of the figure itself, the perspective, or the environment that the person could not, or should not be in. Through the facial expressions, the gestures, and the physical presentation of the individual, Lewis expresses powerful emotions, which pull the viewer into the painting, fully intrigued with the story behind the portrait. In each piece, Lewis weaves an existence replete with love, conflict, beauty, tradition, fear or isolation.”
The exhibition runs through June 18, 2011. For more information, visit David B. Smith Gallery and KrisLewisArt.com.
