Tom Lewis is a British artist and illustrator whose layered paintings and art prints are a colourful, playful and whimsical mix of traditional and digital techniques. Tom Lewis’ art begins life with pencil or marker pen markings, before the application of acrylic paint, aerosol cans, airbrushes, varnish, cardboard and digital imagery.
Tom Lewis is a British artist and illustrator whose layered paintings and art prints are a colourful, playful and whimsical mix of traditional and digital techniques. Tom Lewis’ art begins life with pencil or marker pen markings, before the application of acrylic paint, aerosol cans, airbrushes, varnish, cardboard and digital imagery.
Lewis creates artwork that tells a story, blending elements of ancient mythology, traditional oriental design, and contemporary street art to embody a unique and instantly recognisable style. He is interested in automatic writing and subconscious mark-making, which he did a lot of whilst at university. Lewis works with a variety of mediums, creating sculptures as well as paintings. All pieces go through a couple of versions in order for Lewis to decide which route he wants to take. For paintings, Lewis often does the backgrounds digitally and then prints them on like wallpaper, before sanding them down, drawing the characters back on top, and painting them with acrylics, spray paint and anything else in his studio. Lewis has exhibited artwork in many cities throughout the world including Hong Kong, Singapore and New York. His work was also the focal point of an episode of BBC TV's 'Junior Apprentice', from which he garnered a supportive fan base.
Lewis' characters are inspired by random doodles and people he encounters.
“I think I am trying to tell stories about telling stories.”
A proposal took place in front of one of Lewis' artworks.
The five words Lewis would use to describe his artworks are: 'nonsensical, beautiful, whimsical, Japanical, vivid.'
Lewis is a huge fan of Cy Twombly.
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
Featured In:
Art Republic sat down with Tom Lewis to discuss what he is influenced by, how his love of art grew as a child, and he talks us through his creative process. AR: Your work is a massive blend of influences from mythology to oriental design to street art. So where do you take this inspiration from? Can you explain these influences a little bit more to us? Tom: A long time ago I started being interested in automatic writing and subconscious mark making, and I did a lot of that when I was at university. I also invented an ancient ...
