Born in Los Angeles, CA, 1986
Education
MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, 2012
BFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, 2010
BA, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA, 2008
Lives and works in Chicago, IL
One-Person Exhibitions
2023
Tony Lewis: CASUAL T, Orange County Museum of Art, Costa Mesa, CA
New Song We Wrest! Who Throng Heat Yet? Tone Got Flower Work, MASSIMODECARLO, Hong Kong, China
2022
EONS OF NEON NESCIENT PEONS POPCORN INFLUENCE AND SUCH, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2020
The Dangers (As Far As I Can See), Massimo de Carlo, Milan, Italy
2019
Charlatan And Ultimately A Boring Man, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
2018
Anthology 2014-2016, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Campo de Juego, Arts Projects Ibiza, Ibiza, Spain
Engine Insist Itself Nothing Short Etc., Massimo de Carlo, Hong Kong, China
2017
Jot, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
Howling, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Plunder, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
When I Felt Like I Could Sing That, Then I Felt Like I Was In, Massimo de Carlo, London, UK
2016
Alms, Comity and Plunder, Marino Marini Museum, Florence, Italy
2015
Pall, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
free movement power nomenclature pressure weight, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland, OH
Wordnonpseudo, Massimo de Carlo, Milan, Italy
2014
I Believe History Is A Force, Massimo de Carlo, London, UK
2013
Bindery Projects, St. Paul, MN
2012
Nine Drawings for Charles, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
2011
Autumn Space Presents: Tony Lewis, Autumn Space Gallery, Chicago, IL
Group Exhibitions
2023
Levity, Alexander Berggruen, New York, NY
2022
Citing Black Geographies, GRAY Gallery, Chicago, IL; traveling to GRAY Gallery, New York, NY
Sculpture as Verb, Gund Gallery, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Come As You Are, Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL
In These Truths, Albright-Knox Northland, Buffalo, NY
2021
Grain of a Hand: Drawings with Charcoal, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Hiding in Plain Sight, Pace Gallery, New York, NY
At The Luss House: Blum & Poe, Mendes Wood DM and Object & Thing, The Gerald Luss House, Ossining, NY
2020
5,471 miles, Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, CA
The Long Dream, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2019
Words, Alexander Berggruen Gallery LLC, New York, NY
2018
Second Sight: The Paradox of Vision in Contemporary Art, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
This is a Pipe: Realism and the Found Object in Contemporary Art, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Under Erasure, curated by Heather and Raphael Rubinstein, Pierogi, New York, NY
Untitled (Monochrome), 1957-2017, Richard Taittinger Gallery, New York, NY
2017
The Gap Between the Fridge and the Cooker, Modern Institute, Glasgow, Scotland
Color People, Rental Gallery, East Hampton, NY
Speech/Arts, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, PA
2016
Self, Massimo de Carlo, London, UK
Bortolami Gallery, New York, NY
Chicago Invites Chicago, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY
The Revolution Will Not Be Gray, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO
Chicago and Vicinity, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, IL
Karl Haendel and Tony Lewis, LAXART, Los Angeles, CA
Imitation of Life: Melodrama and Race in the 21st Century, HOME, Manchester, UK
2015
A Constellation, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, NY
Civilization and Its Discontents: SAIC Alumni Exhibition, Selections from 1985-2015, curated by Scott and Tyson Reeder, Sullivan Galleries, Chicago, IL
Synecdoche, Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA
The Works: Artists in and from Chicago, curated by Dieter Roelstraete and Abigail Winograd, CAB Art Center, Brussels, Belgium
Sharon Hayes, Tony Lewis, Adam Pendleton, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, NY
2014
2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Tony Lewis / Nate Young, Room East, New York, NY
Walls and Words, curated by Joel Mesler, Eldridge Street Synagogue, New York, NY
Black Eye, curated by Nicola Vassell, New York, NY
NEXT, Arsenal, Montreal, Canada
Retreat, organized by Theaster Gates, presented by Black Artist Retreat, Valerie Carberry Gallery, and Richard Gray Gallery, Chicago, IL
2013
Chris Bradley / Tony Lewis, Shane Campbell Gallery, Oak Park, IL
Neff/Jackson/Lewis, organized by John Neff, Lump Projects, Raleigh, NC
Edge, Order, Rupture: Geometric Abstraction, Galerie Lelong, New York, NY
... BUT THE CLOUDS ..., Room East, New York, NY
Beyond the Object, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
2012
Parade Ground, Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY
News from Chicago and New York City, Galerie Fiebach & Minninger, Cologne, Germany
People of Color, Gene Siskel Film Center, Chicago, IL
Ground Floor, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, IL
SAIC MFA Painting, curated by Philip Vanderhyden, Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY
And Then She’s Like / And He Goes, curated by Chris Campe, A+D Gallery, Columbia College,
Chicago, IL
Union League Civic & Arts Foundation, Chicago, IL
SAIC Graduate Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Assemble, Carousel Space Project, Chicago, IL
Kindred Visions, Blanc Gallery, Chicago, IL
2nd Floor Rear, 24-Hour Festival of Art, Its a pony! Projects, Chicago, IL
2011
Dialogical Self, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Roger's Grocery, Mess Hall, Chicago, IL
Umlaut, DANK Haus, German American Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
Autumn Space Presents: Instructions Sets, Autumn Space Gallery, Chicago, IL
Love, Sex, And Violence, The Fine Arts Building, Chicago, IL
Midnight Snacks: Chicago, 1366 Space, Chicago, IL
2010
SAIC Graduate Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
Midnight Snacks: Chicago, 1366 Space, Chicago, IL
Awards and Grants
2012
Archibald Motley Jr. Award
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Graduate Fellowship
2011
Rosaline Cohn Scholarship
2009
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Grant
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Scholarship
Bibliography
Catalogues
2024
Crawford, Romi. Citing Black Geographies. Chicago and New York: GRAY, 2024.
2023
Tony Lewis: Anthology 2014–2016. Texts by Theaster Gates, Betsey Jonson, and Tony Lewis. Milan: Mousse Publishing, 2023.
2021
Walker, Anne. Rowdy Meadow: House, Land, Art. New York: Vendome Press, 2021.
Vitamin D3: Today's Best in Contemporary Drawing. London and New York: Phaidon, 2021.
2019
Girma, Hanna. "Tony Lewis." In Among Others: Blackness at MoMA, edited by Charlotte Barat, Carl Darling Buck, and Darby English, 282-83. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2019.
2018
Lewis, Tony. Anthology 2014-2016. Chicago: Candor Arts, 2018.
2015
Tony Lewis: Free Movement Power Nomenclature Pressure Weight. Cleveland: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2015.
Tony Lewis: Making Room for Drawing. Copenhagen: Pork Salad Press, 2015.
2013
Tony Lewis. Chicago: Shane Campbell Gallery, 2013.
Articles and Reviews
2022
Williams, Kaya. “Artist Tony Lewis Explores the Practice of Drawing in Anderson Ranch Talk.” AspenTimes.com, July 4, 2022.
2021
Sweda, Chris. “‘The Long Dream’ Exhibit at MCA Chicago.” Chicagotribune.com, March 2, 2021.
2020
Fullerton, Elizabeth. "Tony Lewis Interview." StudioInternational.com, February 5, 2020.
Valentine, Victoria L. "Exploring Art Basel Viewing Rooms: Galleries are Displaying Works (and Prices) by Chris Ofili, McArthur Binion, Woody De Othello, Tschabalala Self, and Theaster Gates." CultureType.com, March 23, 2020.
Voon, Claire. “7 Artists on Creating New Work during Quarantine.” Artsy.net, May 5, 2020.
White, Katie. “Studio Visit: Artist Tony Lewis on the Comforting Sounds of Chicago Traffic and the Postcards He’s Been Mailing to Friends.” Artnet News, October 13, 2020.
2019
Levenson, Rebecca. “Dallas Art Fair: Simply Bold Abstractions.” SMUDailyCampus.com, May 6, 2019.
Zara, Janelle. “‘It’s a Call to Action’: Why Artist Tony Lewis Is Battling the Legacy of William F. Buckley, the Godfather of American Conservatism.” Artnet News, May 31, 2019.
2018
Catlin, Roger. "This Artist Deconstructed His Love and Fascination for Calvin and Hobbes." Smithsonianmag.com, March 14, 2018. Gould, Jocelyn. "Tony Lewis Recounts His Evolution as an Artist and His Exploration of Creating Drawings. Thejustice.org, April 24, 2018.
Hallé, Isabelle. "Graphite and Collaboration: Drawing on the Walls with Tony Lewis." Bowdoinorient.com, February 23, 2018.
Hallock, Jeremy. “Dallas Art Fair Works to be Part of DMA’s Permanent Collection.” Dallas News (blog), April 14, 2018.
"Hirshhorn to Present Tony Lewis' Comic Strip-Based "Anthology 2014-2016" Collages Together for the First Time." Webwire.com, February 26, 2018.
Selvin, Claire. "Blum & Poe Gallery Now Represents Tony Lewis." Artnews, June 12, 2018.
Touret, Tarina. “Tony Lewis Reimagines ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ as Poetry.”
The Hoya (Georgetown University newspaper), April 5, 2018.
Valentine, Victoria L. "Artist Tony Lewis is Now Represented by Blum & Poe Gallery." Culture Type, July 3, 2018.
2016
Fassi, Luigi. “Tony Lewis “Alms Comity and Plunder” at Museo Marino Marini, Florence.” Mousse Magazine, April 23, 2016.
Mizota, Sharon. “At LAXArt, Boundary-blurring Drawing as a Form of Sculpture.” Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2016.
2015
“Chicago.” Kaleidoscope (Winter 2015): 168-181.
Lewis, Tony. “Tony Lewis: Pall.” Interview with Jacob Fabricius. Mousse Magazine
49 (Summer 2015): 204-206.
Michalska, Julia. “Black Art Matters.” The Art Newspaper, June 18, 2015.
Nelson, Solveig. “Tony Lewis.” Artforum 54, no. 3 (November 2015): 309-310.
“Tony Lewis’s Epigrammatic Abstractions.” Inside \ Within, January 2015.
2014
Blake, Kevin. "Drawing Lines of Communication: A Conversation with Tony Lewis."
Bad at Sports, April 2, 2014.
Duray, Dan, Andrew Russeth, Zoe Lescaze, and M.H. Miller. “12 Things to Do in New York’s Art
World Before May 11.” Gallerist NY, May 5, 2014.
Foumberg, Jason. “Eye Exam: Chicago Art News.” Newcity, May 23, 2014.
Loos, Ted. “A Biennial in the Making.” Sotheby’s Magazine, February 2014.
Pechman, Ali. "Walls and Words." Artforum, May 2014.
Samuels Gibbs, Adrienne. “The 312: Theaster Gates Curates a ‘Retreat’ Exhibition for Black Artists.” Chicago Sun-Times, September 4, 2014.
“Whitney Biennial 2014.” Musée Magazine (blog), March 10, 2014.
Young, Paul David. “Texting at the Whitney Biennial.” Hyperallergic, March 15, 2014.
2013
Farago, Jason, “... but the clouds ...”, Artforum.com, February 2013
Foumberg, Jason.”There are 17 Chicago Artists in the 2014 Whitney Biennial.” Chicago
Magazine, November 2013.
Goldstein, Andrew M. “10 Things the 2014 Whitney Biennial List Tells Us.” Artspace, November
16, 2013.
Judd, Jason. “Tony Lewis.” Make Space, April 15, 2013.
Nance, Kevin. “Chicago’s Young Artists: What does the future hold?” Chicago Gallery News, May - August 2013.
Niendorf, Emmaline. “Simply Magnificent: Top Art Exhibitions for January 2013.” Simply Magnificent, January 10, 2013.
“Nine Drawings for Charles.” Black Visual Archive, no. 24, April 2013.
Schouweiler, Susannah. “Tony Lewis’ exhibition leaves its mark at the Bindery
Projects.” Knight Arts, January 13, 2013.
2012
Bey, Dawoud and Caroline Picard, “Gound Floor.” Exhibition Catalogue, August 2012.
Corbett, John, “Thoughts on Structuring Absence in Text-Sound Image.” Columbia College Chicago, August 2012.
Museum and Public Collections
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C.
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY