Color Theory: The Most High Art of Peter Lewis
by: Phillip Barcio on February 17th, 2010 | 4 Comments »
During a recent inventory count in the bar where I work, I was surprised to see my boss taking sips from various juice bottles in order to determine their contents. He later revealed to me that he is colorblind.
This revelation that someone I interact closely with every day literally does not see the world the same way I do made me question some things, the least of which concerned who should count bar juices from now on. I realized that in my role as someone who writes about art I have taken for granted that my experience of color is the same, or nearly the same as everyone else’s. I wonder now in what other ways people experience art differently than I do. Do we all see shading the same way? Do we see shapes the same? Are some of us blind to levels of meaning the way my boss cannot see levels of color?
Consider the inspired work of Peter Lewis. The color palette conjures a mixture of psychedelia and the colors of the flags of Africa, evoking in me feelings of mind-expansion, rebellion, and human interconnectedness.
(Head Creator, oil on canvas. To see more of Peter lewis’ work, visit the Tikkun Art Gallery.)
Says Lewis:
Subconsciously, I relate to color as vibrations that can manifest different levels of feelings, energies, time, and place. And so I do not consciously make color choices, instead they flow out of my being as the piece is created.
I hope to provoke my viewers with a strong message that everyone can relate to, regardless of nationality, religion, or culture in order for us to appreciate life in all its forms and to express color as an evolution connecting the universe.
I feel the color vibrations to which Peter is referring even more when I consider the titles of some of his work. His piece “Two Face” appears to me to resemble the stained glass windows that adorned many of the Catholic churches I attended growing up. The color-meaning combined with the insinuation of the title evokes powerful emotion in me as I recall my personal feelings toward the hypocrisy, misinformation, manipulation, and materialism of Catholicism Incorporated.
If I could not see the colors of this piece, would I perceive the same intentions from the work?
Are there other viewers who have not had the same experience with the church as I have who may read entirely different meanings into the title of the piece because they do not see what my experience has shown me?
Peter Lewis asserts that his work “manifests from the divine.” I choose to believe him, perhaps because I am hopeful that the divine intends for us to experience the world in uniquely personal ways and to perceive through our senses, in whatever way they work for us, the love and wonder of the world around us. For those of us who see color, we may see the divine in a rainbow. For those of us immune to color’s charms, what other ways might we experience a glimpse of eternity?
(Two Face, oil on canvas. To see more of the work of Peter Lewis, visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery.)
Says Lewis:
I believe my mission for my art involves a spiritual conversation with mind, body, and soul, in order to unify our inner being with the universe. But at the same time I believe that the conversation is very personal and is ultimately between the viewer and the piece.
My titles came after the completion of my sketches and sometimes after the completion of the final paintings and it’s true that they are intended to add a deeper meaning of my personal intention in producing the work. So it’s inspiring to me to know that my titles help a viewer to have a deeper understanding of my work, but it’s also important to me to know that the work still has an impact on you, the viewer without the title, whatever that personal impression is. Because really I see my work as an aid to the viewer to bring him or her whatever experience he or she is intended to have.
In today’s society we experience or witness separation, discrimination, and condemnation in many forms. I hope my art work can break down the mental walls we create against each other to make this world a better place to live in, full of greater understanding for one another which can lead to peace and unity.
To experience more work by Peter Lewis, visit the Tikkun Daily Art Gallery or visit the artist’s website here.
I was impressed by how all of Peter’s works–with the exception of “Look who’s looking”–are bright, warm and inviting. Your comment on how personal our reactions to color are reminded me of a vivid dream I recently had in which I was surprised to view a brilliant rainbow from its side, only to discover that, seen from its side, it’s edge appeared as a narrow, bright-blue vertical line. Peter’s use of color is equally surprising as he forces his viewers to consider the relationships of colors and shapes in ways they may never have imagined.
When I first met Peter over a year ago I immediately looked up his website after he gave me his card. I had an immediate emotional response to his work and I think his use of color had a lot to do with it. I’ve been a visual artist most of my life but I had never before been so moved by another artist’s work that I felt a strong urge to purchase one of their pieces as I did when I saw Peter’s painting ‘Miscommunication’ When I saw this piece online I was actually moved to tears. I think it reminded me so much of my own troubles with relationships, and so accurately depicted that longing to merge with another and the beauty of that union but with it the agony of the feelings of separation that often come after an argument or misunderstanding. It seemed to represent the duality in all things. I actually did buy this piece shortly after I first saw it and it now hangs proudly displayed in my bedroom. I have never tired of looking at it since. And it took me many months to even notice how the female was represented in the stereotype pink and the male in blue. When I pointed this out to Peter he had not ever noticed that himself as he had not consciously made the decision to represent them that way. I also recently noticed after seeing his painting ‘Connected’ (another personal favorite) for the thousandth time how the figure in it seemed to have almost all of the chakra colors represented throughout in proper sequence. When I told this to Peter, he did not even know what a chakra really was or that it had a color representation. That blew me away. It really seemed to testify to the fact that he himself was so connected to something ‘other’ something truly spiritual and divine when he created his pieces that somehow these unseen things were being made manifest through his work. I have been truly blessed to know Peter as a friend since buying his painting and to have had the priveledge to watch as his last three paintings (‘Mental Walls’, ‘Jade’ and ‘Cosmic Buddha’) have unfolded. Keep the beautiful work flowing! Peace.
I wrote the above comment about a year ago when I supported Peter and his work. I had spent a year plus prior to that of my life devoted to him and his work. I helped him write all his responses on this website as well as several art history papers so that he would not fail his classes. I spent many sleepless nights helping him study for exams and aiding him in his art endeavors. And his last few and what he considered his best paintings I helped him create. He re-sketched them at my direction to enhance the composition. He changed his color choices at my direction as well and reworked modeling and lighting too. I helped him clean up the drip marks all over his piece called Jade that he had not seen and that happened out of his own carelessness. He is a dreamer for sure aided in his dreaming by drug and alcohol addiction. I had thought he was worthy of my attention and time but it turned out that he was fraud. A manipulator. A liar. In fact a compulsive liar. After I found out who he really is I realized that all his previous successes in art and school and otherwise were due to the tireless efforts of unappreciated women whom he used and disposed of at every turn. The disposals only happened when he was unable to keep track of his lies and when the truth about his unfaithfulness and disregard for the people who loved him finally came to light. I thought I was special and the he was special to me but I was just another in a long succession of women whose good natures and willingness to believe his stories and who wanted to care for him he had taken advantage of. It is still heartbreaking what he did to me. Messed around with a ‘good friend’ of mine, for no apparent reason, lied about it over and over.. just like the other girls he was with while he was promising me his heart, while I was laboring over what was supposed to be HIS work, he was out on the town, more booze, more women,. but then comes home to me professing to be ‘spiritual’.. forever talking about God and the Bible and pretending to care about ‘body temples’ and ‘soul ties’..and never taking responsibility for any of his actions. it was all deception and manipulation and I think that not only did he hurt me and fool me but he fooled this publication as well and I thought you might want to know that things are not as they appear to be when it comes to Mr. Lewis and his art and that he does not deserve an ounce of the praise you and I have bestowed upon him. I showed him my purest deepest self and gave my trust and devotion to him and he abused that trust to no end. The details of his abuse and the mind games he played with me so long and the scars he left are all very ugly and hardly prove him to be a ‘spiritual’ person. He is a liar and a hypocrite and cares for no one. Especially not his daughters whom he abandoned so he could become a big famous artist in a far away country. (actually he really left them and their mother when they were very small for another woman.. the art came later and then became his validation for doing what he did.. as if it was all ‘for a reason’ and then if he finally makes it big after he steps on enough stones (women) to get there, it will have all been worth the ‘sacrifice’ of his being absent all these years and the money he could then give would make it all worth it… since we all know money can buy love and make us happy.. that’s what real spirituality is about right?..Oh and he when he was trying to defend his bad behavior when it was found out said to me ‘Sometimes a man has to feel like a man’ (in reference to the women he was carrying on with at bars).. Funny cause I thought that a Father, a good one anyway, would think that feeling ‘like a man’ happened when he spent time with his family, with his children and his partner, not while having some meaningless drunken encounter with some stranger at a club. But guess that’s just me. Or maybe I’m not ‘spiritual’ enough like he is cause I don’t read the Bible. But I don’t have to read the Bible to know right from wrong. Seems for all his reading all these years he still can’t tell the difference. And I thought being ‘spiritual’ was about treating others kindly and fairly and with love and had nothing to do with growing your hair long in knots.
Anyway I did not see how I could remove what I had previously written so I am writing this in hopes that you will either remove it for me since I really would like to take it all back (along with the time I wasted on him, unfortunately that part I can’t take back) .. or you can at least have this posted next to it so that the truth can be made known.
Thank you.
PS- If anyone wants to buy the piece I had bought from Lewis back in my time of innocence, the one titled ‘Miscommunication’ let me know. I either need to sell it soon or I may have to destroy it as it is basically a total mockery of any feelings I had for the artist and any supposed feelings he had for me. It should be called ‘Deception’ instead. He liked to call any lie he told or thing he did wrong a ‘miscommunication’.. what a joke.