Mark Lewis
Born in 1958 in Hamilton, Canada, Mark Lewis lives and works in London. Recording daily life scenes and situations emblematics of our time, his short films often implicitly refer to the history of painting, photography and cinema.
Mark Lewis settles in Vancouver from 1989 to 1997 and takes part to the hatching of conceptual-photo scene in the École de Vancouver. From the mid 1990s, he begins to direct short clips of a few minutes, first in 35 mm then in video, for the museum space where they are often screened in a large format. Mark Lewis works the cinematographic device itself by using the camera movements potential to offer a brand new reading of the contemporary world. Rush Hour, Morning and Evening, Cheapside and Isosceles already prove Lewis's virtuosity in his approach of trivial situations. His recent movies, Man (2012), Smoker at Spitalfields (2012) and City Road 24 March 2012 (2012) highlight the 'pictoriality' of daily urban views which often refer to the history of painting. His movie Black Mirror at the National Gallery (2011) develops the interaction between museum space, the mirror and the cinematographic device.
Among his most recent works, he directed in 2014 three movies about South-Corea and the Demilitarized Zone between North Corea and South Corea, at the occasion of the 31th Biennale of São Paolo, seven movies at São Paolo (among which the movie Above and Below the Minhocão, screened at LE BAL). His project Invention dreams up a contemporary city without moving images (no cellphones, or television or Internet) which becomes itself cinematographic with a intense concentration of bodies in movement, shadow illusions and reflections. This huge project includes works produced for the Biennale of São Paulo as well as four movies conceived for Le Louvre in 2014.
In 2009, Mark Lewis represented the Canada for the 53th Biennale of Venice. The following museums dedicated to him a personal exhibition : Van Abbemuseum (Eindhoven, 2013), Vancouver Art Gallery (Canada, 2008), Ps1 (New York, 2006), Forte Di Bard (Italie, 2011), Man – Museo D’Arte Provincia di Nuoro (Italie, 2009), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, 2010), Akademie der Bildenden Künste (Vienne, 2008), FACT (Liverpool, 2006), BFI Southbank (Londres, 2006) and musée du Louvre (Paris, 2014).
Mark Lewis is lecturer of art for the Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, co-founder with Charles Esche of Afterall, a londonian structure dedicated to publishing and research, une structure londonienne dédiée à l’édition et la recherche. He is also the publisher of Afterall Books, One Work Series.
