Lewis Andrews/ Other Worlds

Lewis Andrews moved to Leeds in 2016 to study a BA(Hons) in Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. After graduating in 2019, Lewis continues to work in Leeds. In 2022, Lewis completed his Postgraduate Fine Arts Degree also at Leeds Arts University, graduating with a Masters Degree in the Creative Arts. During his Master’s Degree, Lewis’s practice became deeply focused on the methodology of translating information and data from sources within science into artworks. Lewis has continued to work and build upon this method in his work constructing a theory of working called ‘The Informative Encounter’.

Since 2019, Lewis has participated in 100+ exhibitions across the UK and internationally with many notable achievements. Lewis held his first solo show '186,000mi/s' whilst studying at Leeds Arts University in 2018 at Wharf Chambers, Leeds, UK. Lewis was one of the artists picked to participate in the Aon Community Art Awards program 2019 running through 2021 with his oceanic sublime photography work displayed in Aon Headquarters, London. In November 2020, Lewis was selected to participate in the Mayes Creative Watching the Sun: Virtual Residency alongside other artists with an interest in astronomy and ancient astrology. Lewis participated in two more virtual arts science residences with Mayes Creative. work from the residency was included in a publication that now resides within the Royal Astronomy Society Archive. Lewis joined Mayes Creative once again for their January 2024 residency in the Cot Valley, Cornwall, UK. Lewis has formed strong relations with the Brazilian art organisation Artlymix and the Georgian-based gallery Collect Art. As of present, Lewis has featured in 16+ exhibitions with Artlymix in Sao Paulo, Brazil and 12+ of Collect Art's publications & Digital exhibitions as of July 2024 to name a few of his achievements.

‘Hot Jupiters’ visualises the results of when we have been looking for heavens in the cosmos. Instead, we found various forms of hell. Throughout the cosmos, scientists look at distant solar systems searching for exoplanets. In recent years, they’ve seen numerous gas giant planets similar to the size of Jupiter. However, they found these giants way too close to their stars, within an orbit identical to or closer than Mercury is to the sun in some instances. Current theories suggest that these giants formed further out in their solar systems however, either during their formation or the passing of a nearby object with a large amount of gravity disturbs its orbit, they start to migrate inward closer to their star.

Referred to as ‘Hot Jupiters’, these giants display some interesting characteristics as a result of now residing close to their home star. HD 189733b, about 64 light years away, orbits so close to its star that it completes one orbit in 2.2 earth days and has winds of up to 5,400mph. HD 149026b has a surface temperature reaching almost 2,040c thanks to its dark appearance absorbing all its star’s heat with only a scorching hot spot on the side tidal locked to the planet. WASP-12b has an orbit lasting only 1 Earth day, has a surface temperature of 2,200c (one of the hottest planets in our galaxy) and has its atmosphere actively being stripped away by its star; about 190 quadrillion tonnes of gas is being ripped away from the planet every year. No life can exist in these hellish worlds.