Charles Lewis's observations of the world of art

Joan Brown at SF MOMA

I have my friend Gale Jesi, photography teacher extraordinaire, to thank for introducing me to Joan Brown’s work. I don’t know how I missed it, as it was a prominent part of the 60s and 70s Bay Area art scene...

Dave Nez and the OHO Group at the UAE

The 11th annual Ras Al Khaimah Fine Arts Festival (RAKFAF) officially opened to the public on February 3rd, 2023, at the Al Jazeera Al Hamra Heritage Village – the historic home of the ancient Al Za’ab tribe and pearling village...

What Is Good Art? Meditations On Power In Art

What is Good Art ? Thankfully we can’t ever define good and bad art. Actually, we personally can certainly know, or believe we know, what is good [to us]. But on a larger level, there is no criterion for good...

Why Is So Much Art So Boring?

It’s not that I get bored easily. It’s just that most art I see bores me. Does that mean it’s boring? To me it is. I go in a gallery. Fifteen seconds is all I need to know if its...

Ban the Narrative! Stop Talking and Use Your Eyes

When I hear the phrase “contemporary art” I want to gag. When I see contemporary art I usually want to double gag. The art world has managed a stupendous trick with contemporary art: It’s replaced the creation (that now-useless thing...

Anselm Kiefer in Venice

Anselm Kiefer in Venice In summer of 22, I went to Venice for the Biennale, not for the first time. It was good, of course, it always is, at the primary venues of the Jardinière and the Arsenale. The focus...

Do Objects Have Power?

I’ve recently completed seven shaman pictures. These are paintings of shamans from my mind. Shamans have a strong connection to art. Outsider art, at least. My kind of art. The kind that tries to get beyond. Shamans interface with the...

Is Painting Dead?

This old idea keeps being replayed as the wave of contemporary art, installations, thought art, and other nebulous artistic trends sweep painting under the rug. Is painting dead? Put another way, is the new the enemy of the good? A...

Two Realities – the Promise of Surrealism in the Modern World

I’ve always been attracted to Surrealism. There is just something so delightfully odd, so weirdly compelling about surrealist imagery. In fact there are several ‘Surrealisms.” The one best known to the most people is the Surrealism of the Surrealist painters...