Mark Lewis (born 1958) is a Canadian artist, best known for his film installations. He represented Canada at the 2009

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

Biography

Lewis attended the Harrow College of Art (London) and the Polytechnic of Central London. In the 1980s, he studied with

Victor Burgin Victor Burgin (born 1941) is a British artist and writer. Burgin first came to attention as a conceptual artist in the late 1960s (Harrison & Wood, 1992; Walker, 2001) and at that time was most noted for being a political photographer of the le ...

, and was a friend of

Laura Mulvey Laura Mulvey (born 15 August 1941) is a British feminist film theorist. She was educated at St Hilda's College, Oxford. She is currently professor of film and media studies at Birkbeck, University of London. She previously taught at Bulmers ...

in 1981.Nancy Tousley, "So Much to See: The Films of Mark Lewis", ''Canadian Art'' (Summer 2009): 49-53 He began his career as a photographer and from 1989 to 1997 lived in Vancouver, becoming part of the burgeoning photoconceptualism scene of the

Vancouver School The Vancouver School of Conceptual art, conceptual or post-conceptual photography (often referred to as photoconceptualismSarah Milroy "Is Arden our next greatest photographer?" ''Globe and Mail'' (October 27, 2007): R1.) is a loose term applied t ...

. In 1991, he produced the documentary ''Disgraced Monuments'' with Mulvey. In the mid‑1990s, he began making film-based installations . His first art film was ''Two Impossible Films'' (1995). In 1999, he eliminated sound from his film. His work focuses on the technology of film and the different genres which have developed in over 100 years of film history: he makes films that are often short, precise exercises on particular techniques, particularly

rear projection Rear projection (background projection, process photography, etc.) is one of many in-camera effects cinematic techniques in film production for combining foreground performances with pre-filmed backgrounds. It was widely used for many years in d ...

(he believes the invention of rear projection in late 1920s was when film became modern) and playing film backwards. In 2020, he told an interviewer:

The only real technical invention of the cinema is the ability to go backward.

In 2009, he represented Canada at the

in Italy in an exhibition curated by Barbara Fischer. He has had solo museum exhibitions at the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, Paris (2014),

The Power Plant The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is a Canadian non-collecting public contemporary art gallery located at the heart of Toronto, Ontario at the Harbourfront Centre. It is a registered Canadian charitable organization supported by its membe ...

, Toronto (2015), the

Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...

which organized ''Mark Lewis. Canada'' (2017), the Museo de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) (2020), and at numerous other international venues such as the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Bucharest, Romania) (2005), the Hamburger Kunstverein (2005), Musée d’art Moderne du Grande Duc, Jean (Luxembourg) (2006), BFI Southbank (London) (2007), and at the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands (2013). His work is in many collections including the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

;

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

New York;

Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. In 2021 it ranked 10th in ...

, Paris; the

Centre Pompidou The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou ( en, National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English, is a complex building in the Beaubourg area of ...

(Paris), the Museo de Arte de São Paulo and the

Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal The Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (MACM) is a contemporary art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the Place des festivals in the Quartier des spectacles and is part of the Place des Arts complex. Founded in 1964, it is ...

, among others. In 2007, he received the

Gershon Iskowitz Gershon Iskowitz (1919 – January 26, 1988) was a Canadian artist of Jewish background originally from Poland. Iskowitz was a Holocaust survivor of the Kielce Ghetto, who was liberated at Buchenwald. The circumstances of his early life—the ...

Prize and the Brit Art Doc Foundation Award. In 2016, he received a

Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually with the prize amount is $25,000 Created in 2000 by then Governor General Adrie ...

. He lives and works in London, England which he moved to in 1997. He is Professor in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins,

University of the Arts London University of the Arts London is a collegiate university in London, England, specialising in arts, design, fashion and the performing arts. It is a federation of six arts colleges: Camberwell College of Arts, Central Saint Martins, Chelsea Coll ...

and co-founder, co-director and co-editor of

Afterall Afterall is a nonprofit contemporary art research and publishing organisation. It is based in London, at Central St Martins College of Art & Design. It publishes the journal ''Afterall;'' the book series ''Readers,'' ''One Works'' and ''Exhibiti ...

, a research and publishing project.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Mark Canadian installation artists Artists from Hamilton, Ontario 1958 births Living people Canadian contemporary artists Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners

Biography

References

Further reading

External links