Darren Lewis

General information

Trained to Degree and Masters Degree level in Fine Art at Canterbury Christ Church University, my work currently focuses on the coastlines of Thanet and recent visits to Cornwall. My work fluctuates between abstraction and representation. After many years creating abstract and semi-abstract paintings connected to local coastal environments, some work submitted here conclude a more representational approach. I give no allegiance to either abstraction or figuration. Fundamentally, whether abstract or figurative, all my paintings are deeply rooted to place and location responding to the visual and its forms. The dualism between what I see and what I transcend onto a canvas with paint, without the notion of purely imitating nature but rather searching for a higher realisation of it becomes my need to paint. My outward observations, combined with my inward perception or vice versa of the seascapes of Thanet, provide me with a constant source of inspiration through its varied light, atmosphere and climate. Living locally in Margate, I paint the things around me, the things I know and feel comfortable with.