Henry Lewis

As a tattooist, my painting work pokes fun at the social, cultural, and political issues in the tattoo community. I execute my ideas by deconstructing traditional Americana and “flash art,” giving new life to these antiquated images. For this body of work I am teaming up with a longtime brother in arms, Lango Olivera.

Lango Olivera

My artwork is made out of the necessity and urge to express myself outside of the tattooing world. With each piece I plunge into a new, unexplored dimension where fantastic beasts fight through mythological scenarios representative of the human experience. After years of working together in the tattoo shop, sharing a studio, and spending long nights seeking inspiration from heavy metal, Henry Lewis and I now join forces to see what hybrid creatures we can create.

An exhibition showcasing new works by group of Californian tattoo artists including Shawn Barber, Mike Davis, Mike Giant, Ryan Scott Shaffer, Juan Puente, Regino Gonzales, Daniel Albrigo, Henry Lewis, Don Edward Hardy and Edu Cerro.  ’Everyday’ is an attempt to shine a different light on a group of artists who have been involved in the tattoo practice and part of the shop culture. A variety of other media, not simply tattoo designs, will be on display to capture another side of the tattoo culture, the everyday lives of these artists, which can be viewed as a unique subculture in itself. Viewers will gain a different insight to the artistic commitment, nature and practice through this unique and candid exhibition.

The exhibition was curated by Andres Guerrero (owner and director of the Guerrero Gallery, in San Francisco) with assistance from 111 Minna Gallery Curator Jay Howell and Gabe Scott.

Curated by Gabe Scott
Oct 2 – Nov 1

FEATURED ARTISTS

Keli Reule
Ms. Reule is a North Carolina born San Francisco resident who will be participating in her first major exhibit @ 111 Minna Gallery. Recently accepted to the St. Martin’s College MFA painting program in London, Reule will be teaming up with studio mate Henry Lewis for “Captain and Commander.”

With this body of work, Reule has chosen to focus on her relationship with the sea and how it relates to internal emotional losses and maintenance of one’s passionate energy. She has set herself adrift into deep, dark water in order to contemplate the effects death, emotional defeats, personal loss and the re-generation of self.  Reule’s sparse palette has been further reduced in order to aid in the alienation of a didactic representation, giving way to a slowness depicted in her blurred imagery.

The artist has long seen herself as a vehicle for narrative memory or as an emulsified canvas for the lapse of time and space. The viewer may feel as if on a train, watching cities pass by with lost monuments or
encountering individuals with displaced physical characteristics.

Henry Lewis
Subtle epiphanies and chance encounters are some of the factors and themes examined by Henry Lewis in his most recent body of work, currently on exhibition with studio mate Keli Reule.

This presentation provides a new angle for Lewis’ long running study of his view of the human condition. A sensitive and impressionable individual, Lewis’ ability to draw strength, an existential purpose and inspiration from his love for the meaningful, random experience is on full display within this exhibit. A slew of street encounters with cab drivers and other urban prophets has provided a significant and positive counterbalance to a dependency on familiarity for guidance. Lewis recently made a difficult decision to leave mentor Mike Davis and Everlasting Tattoo for Skull and Sword; a move geared toward personal evolution both as a tattoo and fine artist. Davis has been a key figure in Lewis’ mastery of oil painting and development of his highly unique baroque characteristics.