About the work

This work is a preliminary study for a 200 x 400 cm painting God’s Kitchen exhibited at Mier Gallery L.A. in December 2018. The work is part of an ongoing series exploring contemporary urban life. The work references the fresco The Council of the Gods by Raffaello, a work often looked at for its casual, quiet storytelling and calm drama.

Date and country of birth

1980, GB

About the artist

Born 1980, Dale Lewis lives and works in London. Graduated from BA Fine Art, London Guildhall University (2002); and MA Fine Art, University of Brighton (2006).

Lewis’ paintings and drawings depict his own experiences, painted / drawn from memory. He focuses on subjects drawn from his immediate surroundings – the reality of contemporary urban life. His work alternates between observations of society, from the mundane to the extreme (social immobility, 9-5 jobs, consumerist excess, binge drinking, gang violence) and scenes inspired by his personal life – family dinners, gay clubs, close friends, lovers. Lewis’ compositions are inspired by renaissance and religious paintings, through which his work seeks a classical spiritual transcendence for ordinary people in day-to-day existence.

Lewis’ work can be found in public and private collections including Fundacion AMMA, Mexico; The Arsenal, Montreal; David Roberts Art Foundation, London; Saatchi Gallery, London; Zabludowicz Collection, London; and Rema Hort Mann Foundation, New York.

Recent exhibitions include Friends and Friends of Friends, Schlossmuseum, Linz (2020); Crowd, Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2020); The Great Day, Edel Assanti, London (2020); Entrance Installation, Times Square Space, 1500 Broadway, New York (2018); Parallel Realities, Galerie Division, Montreal (2018); Iconoclasts: Art out of the Mainstream, Saatchi Gallery, London (2017); and Mixed Signals, Christian Larsen Gallery, Stockholm (2016).

Awards and residencies include Art Athina Residency, Athens (2019); Arsenal Montreal Residency, Montreal (2018); and Zabludowicz Collection Residency, New York (2017).