Amani Lewis Brings Portraits to Paris

Maryland-born artist Amani Lewis is known for their prismatic large-scale portraits that investigate the importance of communities.

Born in 1994, Lewis studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where they earned a BFA in 2016. Lewis' works look inwards, reflecting upon their personal experiences as a young person in Maryland and Miami, where the artist currently lives.

The non-binary artist's latest exhibition draws attention to the significance of individuals and community members as instigators of growth, reflection and forward motion.

Lewis' exhibition with LGDR Paris, It's from the light that we are found, blessed and guided (17 October–19 November 2022), brings together 12 mixed media paintings of individuals who have impacted the artist's spirituality, relationships, and outlook on the world.

It's from the light marks Lewis' first solo show in Europe, and develops the artist's community-focused enquiry as explored in their previous show at New York's Salon 94, Nothing Remains the Same (2021).

'My show in Paris focuses on those who give me strength and purpose, and who in turn I protect and carry in my art,' Lewis said. 'My previous solo exhibition with Salon 94 centred more on my family and how they've shaped my path, so resurfacing extended family and my larger community felt necessary after zooming in like that.'

Capturing the multifaceted faces of city life amid the tangle of nature, Lewis' portraits exist to chronicle how the people in Lewis' life have shaped their world and contributed to their growth and learnings. In doing so, they subvert ingrained preconceptions and champion empowered representations of significant figures in their life.

Speaking on their process, Lewis explains to Ocula Advisory, 'I start with digital recomposition. I take photos, redefine shapes within the scene, and remix the palettes. That redefining and remixing often lends itself to experimenting with colour and opens up opportunities to insert glitter—or to call the viewer's attention in a specific direction. A lot of what I do is intuitive, but it does have rhyme and reason.'

At Paris+ par Art Basel, LGDR will be debuting Lewis' painting, Through all of the twists and turns, these women never fail to stay connected. A love of a mother who is unmatched. The Collazos (2022).

The artist began working on the large-scale portrait earlier this year, which depicts Lewis' partner Gabby, with Gabby's mother and sister. Featured in swimsuits, the figures are abstracted through amorphous, prismatic shapes that overlay and intersect the subjects.

Casting a high-contrast effect resembling photographic negatives, Lewis' technique suggests a multiplicity of lenses through which their subjects can be viewed.

Built up with acrylic, glitter, and collage, the canvas exudes an animated, youthful energy, with the palette—rich with emerald greens and neon pink—complementing the intimate depiction of Black metropolitan life.—[O]