Tara Lewis “Hell Yes!”

Lyons Wier Gallery

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Lyons Wier Gallery presents “Hell Yes!” a fresh, new series of portrait paintings by Tara Lewis. “Hell Yes!” portrays real-life subjects adorned with incongruous props, artist-made t-shirts and satin pageant sashes boasting pop culture text idioms. Her portrait process happens organically as models go through her wardrobe, accessories and props to discover a ‘persona’. These ‘play-dates’ serve as a pivotal ingredient for her practice as they are the underpinning of the subsequent photoshoot that serves as the source material for her paintings. Referencing this initial imagery, Lewis explores celebrated cultural forces such as the Lone Ranger, high school cheering squads, home-court basketball, yearbook superlatives, track shorts, tube socks and tennis headbands which feature in the work. Read more

Tara Lewis earned her BA in Painting and Printmaking at the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH and her MA in Visual Studios and Art Education at Tufts University and The Museum School in Boston, MA. Lewis has spent over a decade as a Professor and Chair of the Department of Art at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH. Her artwork has been included in exhibitions and events at the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO, The Watermill Center, Watermill, NY, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, New York Fashion Week and is held in private collections in Palm Beach, New York, London, Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Lewis has been featured in publications such as Whitewall Magazine, New York Magazine, Elle, Vice, Artnet, Art + Auction, and Cultured Magazine among others, and was recently published in RxArt’s Between the Lines, Volume 7: Contemporary Artist Coloring Book.