On Valentines

Known for his abstract painting, Spencer Lewis will debut large scale sculpture in Canada’s project space. Cast in bronze, the sculptures offer a wide variety of surfaces and materials. Some parts are painted while others are polished to high shine. He adds post-it notes, furniture, ceramics and constructed bits that are tacked onto and fall off of these massive orchestrations. The largest of these works is taller than a man and heavier than a refrigerator with a busted up desk inserted into it. While unwieldy in mass, the happenstance freefall composition delivers them towards intimacy. Like his paintings, the sculptures are a kind of homespun rhapsody. They seem to emanate from below, burst up through the mantle like an overflowing storage locker. They are vulcanized. In this show the sculpture paired with the paintings shows a more complete rendering of this artist's complicated and very personal vision.

Spencer Lewis (b. 1979, Los Angeles, CA) received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 2001, and an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. Lewis’s work has been the subject of numerous solo presentations including Harper’s, New York and East Hampton, NY (2021, 2020, 2019, and 2017); Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels, BE (forthcoming); Vito Schnabel Gallery, New York, NY and St. Moritz, CH (2021); and Nino Mier, Los Angeles, CA (2016). Most recently, he has participated in group exhibitions at The Mass, Tokyo, JP (2021); Harper’s, East Hampton, NY (2020 and 2018); Kathryn Brennan, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp, BE (2019); No Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2019); and Lowell Ryan Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2019). His work has appeared in numerous publications including ARTnews, Juxtapoz, and Two Coats of Paint. Lewis lives and works in Los Angeles.