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 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’.
Lewis has participated in exhibitions up and down the country 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 - 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 interested in astronomy and ancient astrology. Lewis went on to participate in two more virtual arts-science residences with Mayes Creative and work from the residency was included in a publication which was then included within the Royal Astronomy Society Archive. To name a few of his achievements as Lewis continues to work from his studio based in Leeds, UK.
Lewis’s work acts as a conduit between the realms of art and science. The supply of information from science fuels the production of visual material which in turn communicates the knowledge of a scientific endeavour. In short, Lewis’s work focuses on dealing with complex thoughts, ideas and facts within nature and science. Some explore those in which we seem to be overshadowed and overpowered in comparison by the vast distances, size or quantities. Others investigate moments of extreme power, creation and rebirth on a molecular scale or on a scale comparable to that of the universe. Questioning our relationships, place and role within the universe, environment and natural spaces.
Mushrooms are the most common product we picture when thinking about a fungal organism. However, the Mushroom is only the fruiting body of the fungus much like an apple is the product of an apple tree. The Mushroom is where the spores are produced. Below is a complex network structure of roots and branches belonging to the organism in the form of mycelium. These structures can behave in a wide variety of ways.
Within woodland fungus (upon which these drawings are based) some Mycelium grows throughout the soil and wraps around tree routes. Boring themselves into the tree routes, they can act as an interconnected web between the trees and other plant organisms. This composition is often called a “mycorrhizal network” and connects these individual trees & plants to facilitate the transfer of water, nitrogen, carbon and other minerals. A German Forester called Peter Wohlleben referred to these networks as the ‘Woodwide Web” as they give the extraordinary ability to allow trees to communicate with each other. The next time you walk through your local woodland, think about the amazing networks operating below your feet. These drawings highlight that there is much more to the fungal world than just the mushroom's fruiting body.