///OLIVER LEWIS : DRAWING
Location: Lancaster, SC
Artist Statement:
I feel that our minds have an incredible desire to be manipulated and are conditioned to think that control is not an illusion. As an essayist, I cleanse my mind of these social adulterations by dissecting ideological apparatuses and cultural hegemony. Historically, art serves as a unique vehicle in delivering control over our perceptions. I take what these philosophies say about us and express them using ink and paper as a way to keep in touch with my inter writer as I draw. However, to have a manipulating effect, I use psychological techniques similar to product branding and commercial advertising. Every detail in a composition is designed to stand on its own as a kind of logo. If I were to draw a brick, it must be a logo representing all bricks. The collection of all these details create a semiotic mechanism to hold a person’s attention long enough to have the philosophical message sink into their subconscious where it can behave like a virus in questioning the world we created.
Bio:
I was born on April 23, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I studied Premed at Penn State University in collaboration with The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. While there, I contributed towards the synthesis and characterization of the nanocatalyst Iron (III) Silsesquioxane. Before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh I suspend my studies and took a road trip across the country to reexamine my life and discovered a unique creative part of my personality and have been exploring that ever since.
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