Sydney artist Ruark Lewis is widely recognised for his works which involve a reworking of literary, musical and archival art texts. These works, referred to as ‘tonal librettos’, were created using a working methodology that involves finding the forms within texts and images in order to then translate them into a new visual language.
“The artist stood before two piles of white paper arranged side by side on a table. As Robert Douglas’s radiophonic tape composition Alpha Solstice began to be heard, Lewis began to scribble on the top sheet of the left-hand pile… They were not simply a sequence of free graphic associations on a musical theme… He was not seeking to capture visually the composers intentions or (perversely) to perform his music silently. His aim instead was to represent the act of listening.”
(Paul Carter, exhibition catalogue)
Publication
Ruark Lewis: Transcription Drawings 1988-1992
In the Press
March, Agenda Contemporary Art Magazine, review
ACCA Press Release
Artist Press Release
