Chicago-based artist Tony Lewis’s practice focuses on the relationship between semiotics and language to confront social and political topics such as race, power, communication, and labor. Lewis creates drawings using graphite, pencil and paper, mediums the artist uses to trace and develop abstract narratives and reflections on the notion of the gestural. By pushing the boundaries of drawing and the possibilities of abstraction, he expands the use of the “material” of language. He currently has a solo exhibition at the Orange County Museum of Art/OCMA.
He and Zuckerman discuss labor and work, changing the way you think about making art, saying yes, listening to music on repeat, “keep going,” things that exist outside of art, motivational language, caring enough, nicknames, and the precision of human nature!