logo
episode-header-image
Yesterday
57m 56s

190. Spencer Lewis

Heidi Zuckerman
About this episode

Spencer Lewis, born 1979 in Hartford, Connecticut, lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of California, Los Angeles. Known for his gestural paintings on cardboard and jute, Lewis uses flashy bright and colorful notions executed through streaked lines, smears of paint and rough strokes that suggest the impulsive creative process underneath. With chaotic, almost infinite layers, Lewis's canvases conceal and simultaneously unveil a brushstroke, a gesture over the other, stories and moments culminating and accumulating on the painting's densest parts. Despite the apparent unpredictability of Lewis's compositions, they are based on a methodology and structure. Lewis is, in fact, interested in pictorial organization and image-making. Consistently concentrating towards the centre of the canvas, Lewis's brushstrokes frantically tell the different layers of the same narrative. In a podcast recorded live in his LA studio, he and Zuckerman discuss wanting positive things, paint as a fluid object, seeing and feeling distance between ideas, cities, being courageous, finding novelty, what art is really good at, timelessness, how artists want to be free, having an anxious attachment style, why people like complexity, what feels big, the space of color, how and why you need a studio, how to make great paintings, his phrase “for me to make a painting,” how art is still about beauty, remembering that making art will feel bad, and how gratitude works every time!

Up next
Nov 18
189. Alia Al-Senussi
<p>Princess Alia Al-Senussi, PhD, is a leading member of the contemporary art world, with a special emphasis in her academic, personal and professional work on visual arts and culture in the Middle East, holding a doctorate degree in politics from SOAS which analyzed the nexus of ... Show More
54m 18s
Nov 11
188. Rodman Primack and Rudy Weissenberg
Rodman Primack and Rudy Weissenberg are co-founders of US-AD100 design firm AGO Interiors and co-founders of Wallpaper 400 collectible design gallery AGO Projects. Their firm’s first book, Love How You Live: Adventures in Interior Design (2024), showcases their projects and the m ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 4
187. Marilyn Minter
Marilyn Minter (b. 1948, USA) is an artist based in New York. Recent solo exhibitions include Marilyn Minter, Lehmann Maupin, Seoul, South Korea (2024). Marilyn Minter, LGDR, New York, NY (2023); Marilyn Minter, Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong, China (2021); All Wet, Montpellier Contem ... Show More
52m 17s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 13
Do We Still Need All-Woman Art Shows?
Before the idea of feminism took shape, there was what writers once called “the woman question.” The phrase comes from the querelle des femmes—a centuries-long debate in Europe about women’s rights, intellect, and place in society. One of the first to take it up was Christine de ... Show More
36m 45s
Jan 2025
Contemporary Curation with Leah Triplett
<div class="Qr7Oae" role="listitem"> <div class="OxAavc NVbRL" data-required="true" data-item-id= "194295100"> <div class="Ih4Dzb"> <div class="q4tvle JqSWld yqQS1" tabindex="0" role="textbox" aria-label="Please upload your artist bio" aria-disabled="true"> Leah Triplett is a cur ... Show More
42m 34s
Nov 2024
Maria Balshaw on Museums (+ Tracey Emin, Frida Kahlo, and more!)
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast is Maria Balshaw. Currently serving as Director of Tate, a position she has held since 2017, Balshaw began her career as an academic and lecturer in cultural studies. At the dawn of the 2000s, she swapped this to become Dire ... Show More
44m 22s
Dec 2024
Navigating the Art World with Emily McElwreath
In this episode, Marina Granger speaks with Emily McElwreath, a powerhouse in the art world with over 18 years of experience as an adviser, independent curator, art educator, and host of The Art Career Podcast (listen here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-career/id1 ... Show More
1h 17m
Dec 2020
Caroline Berzi, Contemporary Artist
Caroline Berzi was born and resides in Egypt, where she received her degree in Business Administration. Following a 7-year career as a financial analyst, her passion for the arts led her to become a full-time artist. Caroline recently graduated from SACI Florence with a Post-Bac ... Show More
26m 4s
Dec 2024
Barbara Walker
I am so excited to say that my guest on the GWA Podcast today is the renowned British artist, Barbara Walker. Born in Birmingham, where she lives and works today, Walker is hailed for her intimate paintings of everyday life, and intricate drawings that not only show power dynamic ... Show More
31m 22s
Nov 2023
A brush with... Sutapa Biswas
Sutapa Biswas talks to Ben Luke about her influences—from writers to musicians, film-makers and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work. Biswas was born in Santinekethan, India, in 1962, and her work in painting, drawing, photogra ... Show More
1h 1m
Oct 31
Katy Hessel
We meet Katy Hessel to discuss her incredible new book How To Live An Artful Life. The year ahead is a gift that has been given to you. What might you do with it?Dive into the year with the wisdom of artists. Gathered from interviews, personal conversations, books and talks, How ... Show More
58m 33s
Aug 25
Smita Prabhakar on Ishara Art Foundation & Nurturing South Asian Art in the UAE
<p>We challenge the conventional perceptions of home and identity in a diasporic context and delve into South Asian art. An art collector, entrepreneur, and the founder and chairperson of the Ishara Art Foundation, Smita Prabhakar shares personal anecdotes, including her move to ... Show More
57m 20s