MICHAEL LEWY
Now more than ever.
woman2b 2.JPG

Forgotten Objects

Inspired by Science fiction B movies and television, I began making these self-portraits at the start of the covid 19 pandemic.

I was never attracted to monsters as a kid. It was only later in life that I became fascinated by them. As I started to make these monsters, what interested me the most was their asymmetry and imperfectness.

We live in a world that celebrates beauty and perfection. Monsters are the opposite of this; they represent failure. Being a middle-aged man, I identify with them. As we get older, we watch our bodies decay and youth disappears. This transformation happens slowly, unlike the quick dissolves that we are used to seeing in films. As we age, we become invisible in a world that only appreciates beauty and success.

Forgotten Objects

As an artist who never learned to paint or draw, I’ve always been fascinated by the mystical process of painting. There is an unpredictable nature about this medium that has always drawn me in, and so, with that spirit of experimentation, I’ve chosen watercolor for my next project series.

Despite my lack of formal training, I began by clumsily painting faces, learning via trial and error, watching other artists, studying videos on drawing, and experimenting and creating abstract portraits.

For this series, I was interested in playing between digital and analog. I began by manipulating my paintings in a 3D modeling program and projecting them as textures onto digital sculptures. The transformation from watercolor to digital object intrigued me, and the resulting sculptures reminded me of lost architectural objects sculpted in clay, possibly left behind by an ancient culture. In addition, the faces of the sculptures can perhaps mirror emotional states within the viewer, which, in turn, engages and invites them to reflect on their own emotional experiences.