Richard Lewer | You don’t have to wake up fighting every day: {Suite} Ponsonby

Describing himself as a social realist, Richard Lewer’s art can often be seen navigating the complexities and idiosyncrasies of society - its moors, culture, and its people. Interwoven with socio-political commentaries are snippets of the artist’s own personal life alongside the histories of Aotearoa and his adopted home Australia; marrying voyeurism with confession, observation with anecdote to visualise worlds on the cusp. 

This latest suite of works is no exception, embodying Lewer’s interest in sites and settings that exist at a juncture or threshold between happenings. What is taking place here? What will happen next? The equivocacy of his paintings obscures any clear answer. Lewer’s veneer of normalcy is coloured by the fantastical; the promise of a reckoning, a confrontation, a disaster or phenomenon shifting beneath the surface of otherwise prosaic scenes. Whichever interpretation the viewer finds themselves entertaining, there is a sense of anticipation embedded in each piece, lending to an air of uncertainty and tension that has become all too familiar in the era of covid-19. 

After a decade-long exploration of alternative mediums, these latest paintings signal a return for Lewer to the uncompromising combination of acrylic on raw linen. A strong and durable though unyielding material, this choice of medium begets a mixture of volatility and decisiveness that adds to his already highly-stylised technique. Without room to overthink and overwork, Lewer’s inscapes are laden with a charge that is as much psychological as it is visual. Laced with the artist’s compassion and self-effacing humour, however, the strange worlds welcome us in this encounter, encouraging viewers to find their own meaning and devise their own narratives amid the ambiguity.