Jo Lewis’ work is rooted in movement and stasis, spanning works on paper, leporello books, and wall-hung sculptures. It explores flux and the fragility of the moment, the delicate interplay between dynamism and endurance, and the void as a generative and active stillness. In Taoism, “becoming still” is understood not as a noun but as a verb; in the artist’s practice, stillness emerges through—and returns to—the physical materiality of making.
Whether outdoors in rivers, lakes, or the sea, or in the studio where it arises in the touch of brush on paper or the run of fluid pigment, flux is deliberately sought as the process through which material and motion meet. Ink and watercolour are the primary materials: ancient, humble, and highly responsive. Paper may be folded, laid flat, or layered, offering both surface and structure for the fluidity of pigment. The unpredictability of watercolour is embraced, allowing each work to evolve through an iterative process of its own making.
Colour and transparency play a central role, valued not only for their sensory qualities but for the subtle relationships that emerge at edges, overlaps, or underlays. Seeing is never static; it is a constant sequence of fragmentary glimpses. Whether encountered at the intimate scale of the Land series or while moving before a sculptural painting or leporello book, each work unfolds over time, offering new revelations with every shift in perspective.
View cv here
View 2025 ‘Espace Fluide’ press release here
View 2025 H a i k u here
View 2024 ‘Nearly not there, actually very’ exhibition Press Release here
View 2022 exhibition review here
Read 2023 catalogue text (ENG/FR) here
