Artist Profile: Austin Lewis
The Business Council for the Arts (BCA) is proud to work with local artist Austin Lewis in the dedicated art gallery located in the Dallas Arts Tower Lobby.
Austin Lewis’s Artist Statement: Dallas Arts Tower Gallery
The sculptures are made through a process of layering commonly discarded materials such as cardboard, plastic, paper and Styrofoam, into dense organic forms. The way the materials are layered gives the work surprising structural integrity. This process of layering common materials was inspired by the way plastic bags wrap themselves around machines at recycling facilities. While one bag can easily break, hundreds layered upon each other are able to bring giant machines to a halt.
The forms are created through an additive and subtractive process inspired by the cellular development of organisms. During the process a form is built, broken apart, and then recombined into a new form. The areas where the sculptures are cut apart reveal the dense interior of the structure like a branch cut of a tree.
The marbled pattern on the surface of the sculptures is created by applying many layers of different colored paper and then sanding it smooth, revealing the different layers.
Through this work, the artist invites the viewer to consider the complexity of modern materialism and their relation to the natural world.
About Business Council for the Arts
Business Council for the Arts encourages, connects, and stimulates support for arts and culture in our region to improve how we live and work in North Texas.