In this RAS Studio session, New York artist Ross Lewis will speak about his current project.

Years of studying Chinese culture have led Ross to develop a distinct visual language by incorporating aesthetic and philosophical sensibilities of Chinese artistic traditions into his installations, paintings and sculpture.

In his recent “Rope Paintings”, the artist departs from his training in the Chinese brush to forge a unique and articulated line using rope and string saturated with ink juxtaposed with collage on paper. This art underscores the creativity that derives from cross-cultural influences.

“The Rope Paintings are a distillation of ideas and visual images, an essential amalgam of deeply personal memories and invented realities, offering a shared set of experiences and situations.” – from the essay Ross Lewis/Synthesis and Amalgam by Elizabeth Reede, 2013.

Concurrent with his practice as a painter, Lewis’ installation work includes temporary and permanent commissions in the US and abroad including: Parallel Motion, a ninety-six foot long mural in Battery Park City, NY, fanscapes, a series of wind-activated circular painted nylon and steel fan sculptures created for Central Park's Belvedere Castle, Dancing in Pink Snow, a mixed-media installation in a 19th century horse stable in Berlin and Urban Intersections, an eighty foot by twenty-four foot high wall mural comprised of 500, 000 pieces of glass and ceramic tile at PS 307 in Queens, NY.

Ross Lewis and Qiu Deshu first met when Lewis was curating exhibitions of contemporary Chinese art in New York in the early 80’s. He visited Qiu’s studio in Shanghai at that time to see artworks firsthand and they only recently met up again, rekindling their friendship. Their paintings spring from a deep understanding of traditional ink painting and a desire to find their individual expression and response to that tradition.

 裂纹与绳子

 QIU DESHU (仇德树) & ROSS LEWIS (李如侠)

Front Line Contemporary 前进当代

House 5, 1120 Huashan Road, Shanghai 200050

Contact: Patricia Lambert, Director 021-62255871, 13918119712 

Entrance: RMB 70 (RAS Members) and RMB 100 (non-members) including a drink (soft drink or glass of wine). 

Those unable to make the donation but wishing to attend may contact us for exemption, prior to this event. Member applications and membership renewals will be available.

RSVP: bookings@royalasiaticsociety.org.cn