Originally from Virginia, David Carmack Lewis studied illustration at Virginia Commonwealth University and in Cardiff, Wales. He started painting after moving to Phoenix, Arizona in the early ‘90s. There he became an early member of the now defunct but well known House Studios and showed his work in Scottsdale, Arizona at Art One Gallery. He moved to Namibia in early 1999 and while there, showed work in the Hout Bay Gallery near Capetown, South Africa. He moved to Portland in 2000. Since then, the mood and atmosphere of the pacific northwest has had a tremendous impact on his work. He currently shows at the Attic Gallery in downtown Portland and has participated in juried and curated exhibitions across the region.

David Carmack Lewis’ recent paintings are ostensibly about the night and, frequently, man’s efforts to hold it at bay. He employs a colorful palette portraying the varied lights that vie with each other and the darkness for dominance. But he is not merely depicting locations and conveying light. From the beginning his work has been primarily narrative in nature. While the figures of his early paintings have disappeared, they seem to be only in hiding, as if they might have stepped offstage only a moment ago. The scene itself then takes up the narrative role. The comparison to a stage set is somewhat apt. There is a dramatic tone to the work, as if some curious event has either just occurred or is imminent. The use of night only heightens the sense of drama and creates out of it a kind of mystery. In addition he often uses an elevated perspective, so that the viewer feels slightly detached, floating just above the scene, cooly examining it for possible clues. There is also, undoubtedly, a sense of loneliness to these nocturnal milieus. But one does not perceive that the artist is struggling with a sense of isolation or melancholy. Rather he seems to be embracing it, perhaps needing it, and at the same time, offering it to the viewer as a balm against the hectic struggle of our daily lives.