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About

Nate Lewis explores history through patterns, textures, and rhythm, creating meditations of celebration and lamentations. He is interested in the unseen and his work is driven by empathy, and the desire to understand nuanced points of view.

By altering photographs, Lewis aim to challenge people’s perspectives on race and history through distortion and illusion. Treating the paper like an organism itself, Lewis sculpts patterns akin to cellular tissue and anatomical elements, allowing hidden histories and patterns to be uncovered from the photographs. He approachs subjects and imagery from a diagnostic place with the idea of utilizing diagnostic lenses and contrast dyes. By virtue of his medical training, Lewis is interested in the tensions that exist within and without us. Ultimately, the work embraces humanistic ideas of human connection and understanding.

Nate Lewis was born and raised outside of Pittsburgh in the town of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, and currently lives and works between NYC and DC.

He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing from VCU, and practiced critical-care nursing in DC-area hospitals for nine years. Lewis’ first artistic pursuit was playing the violin in 2008, followed by drawing in 2010. Since 2017 he has lived and worked in New York City.

Lewis’ work has been exhibited in Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary at The California African American Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Yale Center for British Art, 21c Museum Hotels,The Armory Show, Paris Photo, Expo Chicago, Art Untitled Miami Beach, and is currently in Men of Change: Power, Triumph, Truth, touring with the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Services.

Past residencies include Art on the Vine in Marthas Vineyard, Pioneer Works and Dieu Donne. Lewis’ work is in the public collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Blanton Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Grinnell College Museum of Art, and 21c Museum Hotels,Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art, Cardiff, United Kingdom, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, International African-American Museum, Charleston, SC, Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco, CA, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA , Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC, Wellin Museum of Art, Clinton, NY. He has lectured at Yale University as part of Claudia Rankine’s Racial Imaginary Institute, the Yale Center for British Art, and Paris Photo.

 

Selected Works

This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current 17." This artwork was created in 2025 and measures 26" x 40" [HxW] (66.04 x 101.6 cm); 28" x 42" x 2" [HxWxD] (71.12 x 106.68 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print and ink on paper.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current 17,” 2025
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current II." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 26" x 40" [HxW] (66.04 x 101.6 cm)30" x 44" x 2" [HxWxD] (76.2 x 111.76 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print and ink on paper.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current II,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current III." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 40" x 40" [HxW] (101.6 x 101.6 cm)44" x 44" x 2" [HxWxD] (111.76 x 111.76 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, frottage of musical score.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current III,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current X." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 20" x 24" [HxW] (50.8 x 60.96 cm)23" x 27" x 2" [HxWxD] (58.42 x 68.58 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, frottage of musical score on paper.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current X,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current XIII." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 20" x 24" [HxW] (50.8 x 60.96 cm)23" x 27" x 2" [HxWxD] (58.42 x 68.58 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print and ink.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current XIII,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current VIII." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 40" x 40" [HxW] (101.6 x 101.6 cm)44" x 44" x 2" [HxWxD] (111.76 x 111.76 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print and ink.
Nate Lewis
“Syncopated Current VIII,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Syncopated Current IV." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 26" x 40" [HxW] (66.04 x 101.6 cm); 30" x 44" x 2" [HxWxD] (76.2 x 111.76 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, frottage of musical score.
Nate Lewis
<i>Syncopated Current IV</i>, 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Phases of Scapes." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 26" x 40" [HxW] (66.04 x 101.6 cm)30" x 44" [HxW] (76.2 x 111.76 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, embossing, and colored pencil sticks.
Nate Lewis
“Phases of Scapes,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "Enraptured in Alignment." This artwork was created in 2024 and measures 70" x 44" [HxW] (177.8 x 111.76 cm)74 ¹⁄₄" x 48 ¹⁄₄" x 2" [HxWxD] (188.59 x 122.55 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, embossing, and colored pencil sticks.
Nate Lewis
“Enraptured in Alignment,” 2024
This image depicts an artwork by Nate Lewis titled "A dissonant tentacle." This artwork was created in 2023 and measures 70" x 44" [HxW] (177.8 x 111.76 cm); 74 ¹⁄₄" x 48 ¹⁄₄" x 2" [HxWxD] (188.59 x 122.55 x 5.08 cm) framed. Its medium is Hand sculpted inkjet print, ink, graphite, colored pencil sticks, frottage, embossing of musical score.
Nate Lewis
“A dissonant tentacle,” 2023

Exhibitions

Born in Beaver Falls, PA
Lives and works in New York City, NY

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2025
"Tuning The Signals," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
2023
"Still Tuning the Current," Ziddoun Bossuyt, Paris, France
2022
"Tuning the Current," Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2020
"Latent Tapestries," Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2019
"Untitled Art Miami Beach with Remy Jungerman," Fridman Gallery, Miami, FL
"Paris Photo," Curiosa section, Fridman Gallery, Paris, France
The Armory Show, Focus section, Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2018
EXPO Chicago, Fridman Gallery, Chicago, IL
"1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair," Special Projects, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY
"Latent Tensions," Spring Break Art Show curated by Dustin Yellin
2017
"Mosaic Project," Pennsylvania College of Art & Design, Lancaster, PA
"Tensions in Tapestries," Morton Fine Art, Washington D.C.
2016
"Cheryl Derricotte and Nate Lewis: Fragile Vessels," Loyola University, Baltimore, MD
"Biological Tapestries 1st Movement," Morton Fine Art, Washington D.C.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025
Group Show, La Loma Projects, Los Angeles, CA (forthcoming)
"AMOCA Dialogues: Black Voices from the Museum Collection," Marble Hall at Cardiff’s Temple of Peace, Cardiff, Wales (forthcoming)
2023
"Perpetual Portrait," Vielmetter Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Lost/Found, Galleria Poggiali, Milano, Italy
"Get That Old Thing Back," Sugar Hill Children's Museum, New York, NY
"Still, Life! Mourning, Meaning, Mending," 21c Museum Hotels
"Day Jobs," The Blanton Museum, Austin, TX
Expo Chicago, group booth, Ziddoun Bossuyt, Chicago, IL
Felix Art Fair, group booth, Fridman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2022
"This is Not What it Seems," Ziddoun Bossuyt, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Recent Acquisitions, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
2021
Recent Acquisitions, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
"A Stranger’s Soul Is A Deep Well," Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
"Arches and Ink," Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York, NY
"Retro Africa Gallery presents Do This in Memory of Us," Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York, NY
"What is Past is Prologue," 21 C Museum, Louisville, KY
2020
"Hide and Seek: Portraying, Projecting, and Playing," 21c Museum, Kansas City, MO
"Translating Valence," Urban Institute of Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI
"Listening for the Unsaid," David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
"Parallels and Peripheries: Fractals and Fragments," Curated by Larry Ossei Mensah, Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Italy
"Shifting Gaze: A Reconstruction of the Black & Hispanic Body in Contemporary Art," Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA
"Art On The Grid," Public Art Fund, New York, NY
"Statues Also Die," Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
2019
"Men of Change," Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Services, Washington State Historical Society, Tacoma, WA
"Dress Up, Speak Up: Regalia and Resistance," 21c Museum, Cincinnati, OH
"Men of Change," Smithsonian Institute Traveling Exhibition Services, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Cincinnati, OH
William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT "Plumb Line: Charles White and the Contemporary," California African American Museum, Los Angeles, CA
2018
"Legacy of The Cool: A Tribute to Barkley Hendricks," Bakalar & Paine Galleries, Mass College of Art & Design, Boston, MA
"Strange Beach," Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2017
"Art on the Vine," Martha's Vineyard, MA
"Terrestrial Resonance," Art in Flux, Harlem, NY
"Handmade: Made by Hand," Morton Fine Art, Washington D.C.
2016
"Art on the Vine," Martha's Vineyard, MA
SELECT WPA Art Auction Exhibition, Washington D.C. "Alchemical Vessels," Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Washington D.C.
"The First," Cordesa Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
"Selfish," Brilliant Champions Gallery, Brooklyn NY
Texas Contemporary, Exhibited with Morton Fine Art, Houston, TX
"We may be through with the past," Gallery Nine 5, New York, NY
2015
Transformer Auction, Washington, D.C.
"WPA Art Night," Hickok Cole Architects, Washington D.C.
Aqua Art Fair showed with Morton Fine Art, Art Basel, Miami, FL
SELECT WPA Art Auction Exhibition, Artisphere, Rosslyn, VA
D.C. Commission of the Arts & Humanities Visual Artist Grant Recipients Exhibition, Washington D.C. "Alchemical Vessels," Joan Hisaoka Gallery, Washington, D.C.
2014
Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Regional Final Washington D.C.
SCOPE Art Fair, Miami, FL
WPA Art Night, Hickok Cole Architects, Washington D.C.
"Call + Response IV," Hole In The Sky, Washington, D.C.
"Timeless Remnants," Morton Fine Arts, Washington D.C.
"Over the Edge: Paper Works Unbound Part 1 and Part 2," Juried by Claire Gilman, Curator at the Drawing Center, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
2013
Art Show_05, Pizza Factory, Hole In The Sky, Washington D.C.
Art Show_02, A Room Full of Murals, Hole In The Sky, Washington D.C.
Art Show_01 , A D.C. Showcase, Hole In The Sky, Washington D.C.

Selected Awards & Grants

2023
Art Hx Artist in Residence, Department of Art and Archeology, Princeton University
2022
Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop, New York, NY
Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL
2020
BRIC
Colene Brown Art Prize
Art Noir 12
2018
Dieu Donne: Artist Workspace Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2017
Pioneer Works: Artist in residence, Brooklyn, NY
Agora Culture, Art on the Vine Artist In Residence, Martha's Vineyard, MA
Recipient, D.C. Commission of the Arts & Humanities Visual Artist Fellowship Grant
2015
Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series Regional Winner, Washington D.C.

Bibliography

2025
Carollo, Elisa. "On View: Nate Lewis’ Language of Bodies at Vielmetter," The Observer, March 6
Jacobson, Andrew S. "Nate Lewis’ ‘Tuning the Signals’ at Vielmetter Los Angeles: The Rhythm of Movement and Meaning," LA Sentinel, February 26
Silverman, Erica. "Nate Lewis Delves Deeper with “Tuning the Signals” at Vielmetter Los Angeles," Whitewall, February 20
2023
Jacobson, Andrew S. "DMV Artists Impress at LA Vielmetter Exhibition," The Washington Informer, July 21
Wexler, Ellen. "How Artists’ Day Jobs Shape Their Craft," Smithsonian Magazine, March 10
2022
Waddoups, Ryan. "Nate Lewis’s Dancing Figures Awaken a Sense of Healing," Surface Magazine, September 26
2020
Mitter, Siddhartha. "This Artist Got His Start as an I.C.U. Nurse," The New York Times, March 19
Royale, Renee, "Nate Lewis’ Intricate Paper Sculptures Are Informed by What He Learned in Nursing School," The Observer, Febraury 28
Cowan, Katy. "Nate Lewis's intricately carved works on paper share his experience as a 'critical-care' nurse in Washington DC," Creative Boom, January 30

Publications

2025
Roberts, Veronica. "Day Jobs," Radius Books, Cantor Arts Center, Standord University, Standford, CA, 2025. pp 180 - 185
2020
Lewis, Nate and Niama Safia Sandy. Nate Lewis: Latent Tapestries. New York: Fridman Gallery, 2020.

Special Projects

2019
Kassa Overall, Jazz Gallery Residency, The Jazz Gallery, New York, NY
Kassa Overall, Ben Lamar Gay, Matana Roberts, Luke Stewart, Melanie Charles, Fridman Gallery, New York, NY
2016-2017
Created and designed Paperhaus Album and Single Covers

Public Collections

21c Museum Hotels
Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art, Cardiff, United Kingdom
Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Blanton Museum of Art, The University of Texas at Austin Grinnell College, Austin, TX
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
Gund Gallery Collection, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH
Hall Art Foundation, Reading, VT
International African American Museum
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
The Bunker Artspace, West Palm Beach, FL
Petrucci Family Foundation Collection, Asbury, NJ
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara, CA
The Studio Museum in Harlem, Harlem, NY
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, VA
Wellin Museum of Art, Oneida County, NY
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Yuko Nii Foundation, New York, NY