Kevin Cooley and Phillip Andrew Lewis
statement:
Works by Kevin Cooley and Phillip Andrew Lewis include the following videos and related photographs: We Can Break Through presents a pair of standard box fans connected to a single common power strip. These coexisting machines morph from inert mechanical objects to dancing, dueling entities that ultimately bring about their own demise. In North of North Stars, clusters of white balloons float off into the darkened night sky while black balloons sail into an overcast daytime sky. As both groups blend together on an endless loop in this dual channel video, they bring into question perceptions of scale and distance. The Silent Chorus is a two channel video on small vintage televisions where two piles of black and white dust rapidly succumb to erosion by gusts of wind, offering illusions of purity and perfection as they mix to form a cloud, a short commentary on temporality and the law of entropy.
Los Angeles based artist, Kevin Cooley's photographs were recently acquired by the 21c Museum (Louisville, KY). He is a 2013 recipient of a Center for Cultural Innovation ARC Grant (Los Angeles, CA). Philip Andrew Lewis is an interdisciplinary artist based in Chattanooga, TN. He is a recipient of a 2012 Creative Capital Grant for his ongoing project SYNONYM. Both artists were in residence at The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, (Omaha, NE) where they met and began working together. Cooley and Lewis's first collaborative commission, Through the Skies for You, won the 3-D Award at ArtPrize 2013 (Grand Rapids, MI) and their exhibition as a collaborative team will open at Zeitgeist Gallery March 2014.
education:
Kevin Cooley
The School of Visual Arts, M.F.A. Photography, New York, NY 2000
Lewis and Clark College, B.A. International Affairs, Portland, OR 1997
Philip Andrew Lewis
M.F.A., Memphis College of Art, USA 1998-2000
B.A., Psychology, University of Memphis, USA 1992-96
Manchester Metropolitan University, UK 1995