Peter Wayne Lewis

Peter Wayne Lewis (born 1953) is a Jamaican-American contemporary artist known for his large-scale abstract paintings, many of which are combined to form floor-to-ceiling works. Lewis has exhibited internationally, presenting solo shows in Europe, North America, Asia, and most frequently in China.

Series development and exhibitions Lewis's first exhibition of large paintings in a grid format (a "series"), Beijing Booster Griot, opened at the Sunshine International Art Museum in the Songzhuang Art Colony in Beijing, China, in 2008. Beijing Booster Griot appeared again in a solo exhibition in 2015 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami, along with additional paintings from the Booster series.

From January to March 2016, the UCCA Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing presented two parallel exhibitions showcasing the works of Lewis and Frederick J. Brown (1945–2012), "two artists of the African diaspora whose expressive paintings draw inspiration from their respective cultural backgrounds and shared interest in jazz and spirituality." In 1988, Brown had become the first American artist to display his work at the National Museum of China. Along with Brown's work, Lewis exhibited two major suites, each comprising fifteen paintings. "There is an idea in string theory that all matter exists as vibrating strings moving in multiple dimensions. This idea links physics to my great love, music. The vibration of the strings creates harmony – the universe is a symphony of color and light and different time signatures," Lewis said.

In 2019, Lewis presented the Beijing Booster series again as a solo exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary. The second, Blue & Black Swan Series, was at the Frederick Spratt Gallery in San Jose, California. The third, Peter Wayne Lewis: Paintings, was mounted at the Parish Gallery in Georgetown. In addition, the Black Swan Suite was included in the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Caribbean Visions, curated by Samella Lewis.

In 2000, his exhibition at Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art featured his new Fields Series. His next body of work, Strings, was based on string theory and jazz. He first exhibited Strings in 2003 in New York City. That same year, he assembled a solo show at the Stella Jones Gallery in New Orleans. Lewis was a 2005 artist-in-residence in Eschlkam, Germany, that culminated in the opening of the Kunst Pyramid project Licht und Schatten ("Light and Shadow"), sponsored by the state of Bavaria. Lewis's work appeared again as an invited artist in the Biennial at the National Gallery of Jamaica in 2006.

Lewis's painting Eye of the Magnet was exhibited in the 5th Beijing International Art Biennale in 2012.

In October 2023, his solo exhibition at the B. Sakata Garo gallery in Sacramento, California, included work on canvas as well as scroll paintings executed on rice paper.

Lewis's solo exhibition Monk at 447 Space in New York City was presented in September–October 2024.

Life and teaching career Lewis was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and immigrated to Sacramento, California, with his parents in 1962. As a boy in the 1950s, Lewis wanted to be a musician like his father, a jazz pianist. "I grew up listening to music and have a great appreciation for it, but I did not have that gift," he said, and instead channeled his love of music into large-scale abstract paintings. He received his M.A. in Painting from San Jose State University in 1979 and became an American citizen in 1983. He began his teaching career in 1989 as a visiting professor of painting at the San Francisco Art Institute, followed by a guest professorship at San Jose State University. He then became a professor of painting at the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and moved to the New York City area later that year. He taught at Syracuse University from 1993 until 1995, when he was appointed Professor of Painting at the Massachusetts College of Art & Design (MCAD) in Boston. He was a tenured professor for 25 years, serving as department chairman for Fine Arts 2D from 2006 to 2009. He retired from MCAD as a professor emeritus in 2020.

Lewis has a wide range of influences, from his early attraction to Japanese art to his lifelong interest in music and the legacy of his father, a professional musician who played jazz piano and organ. Later in his career, he became interested in theoretical cosmology and quantum physics (especially string theory), concepts that pushed his work into new directions in the Strings series.

Selected solo exhibitions 1984: Paintings, Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, California 1986: Paintings, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California 1987: Recent Abstract Images, Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, Monterey, California 1990: Works on Paper, Kunsthaus Ostbayern, Viechtach, Germany 1995: Blue and Black Swan Suite Selections, Parish Gallery, Washington, D.C.; Black Swan Suite, Frederick Spratt Gallery, San Jose, California; Blue Swan Suite Paintings, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York City 1997: Replicant, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York City 2000: Fields, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York City 2003: Paintings, Stella Jones Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana; Strings, Rosenberg + Kaufman Fine Art, New York City 2012: Paintings from Middle Earth Part 3, Promo-Arte, Tokyo, Japan 2013: Paintings from Middle Earth 4, Skoto Gallery, New York City; Strings, Matthias Kuper Galleries, Stuttgart, Germany 2015: The Booster Paintings, Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami, Florida; The Brain Paintings, Skoto Gallery, New York City 2015/16: Peter Wayne Lewis & Frederick J. Brown, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Beijing, China 2019/20: Beijing Booster Paintings, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, Delaware 2021: Booster Selection, Skoto Gallery, New York City 2023: Buoyancy, Skoto Gallery, New York City; Kingston to Sacramento: a Painter's Journey, B. Sakata Garo Fine Art, Sacramento, California 2024: Monk, 447 Space, New York City 2026: Fractal Patterns: PETER WAYNE LEWIS, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China 2026: Peter Wayne Lewis - Visual Unity (online exhibition), John William Gallery, Wilmington, Delaware

Selected group exhibitions 1995: Caribbean Visions, curator Dr. Samella Lewis, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 2000: Soon Come: The Art of Contemporary Jamaica, Mid-American Arts Alliance 2004: National Biennial, National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica 2006: 30th Anniversary & National Biennial Exhibition, curator Dr. David Boxer, National Gallery of Jamaica 2008: Inaugural Exhibition, international curator Peter Wayne Lewis, Sunshine International Art Museum, Beijing, China 2012: 5th Beijing International Art Biennale, National Museum of China, Beijing Monumental, JAYJAY, Sacramento, California 2019: 38 Degrees, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China 2020: Color Memory, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China; Prizm Art Fair, Miami Art Week 2021: In Praise of Zen, Tatami Art Museum, Eiheiji, Japan; Tacit Facet: Small and Mighty, curator Camilø Álvårez of Samson, Brookline Arts Center, Brookline, Massachusetts 2022: The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born, AFRIKIN ART 2022, Maison AfriKin, Miami, Florida; Border Free, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China; Countdown Series 4, Red Gate Gallery, Beijing, China; 30th Anniversary Group Show, Skoto Gallery, New York City 2026: Draw, Passerelle Centre for Contemporary Art, Brest, France