British artist Dale Lewis paints satirical, darkly humorous visions of contemporary urban culture, inspired by scenes of depravity witnessed on the streets surrounding his East London home. Formerly a studio assistant to Damien Hirst, and later to Raqib Shaw, he creates vast, intricate tableaux that draw on the influence of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, early David Hockney and Renaissance frescoes. Eurovision (2015) relates to his personal experience of being beaten up by a gang of people in Brighton on the night of the Eurovision Song Contest. Lewis completed his MA at the city’s university, and the iconic Brighton Pavilion looms large in the painting’s background. After being awarded the prestigious Jerwood Painting Fellowship in 2016, Lewis featured in the Saatchi Gallery’s group exhibition Iconoclasts: Art out of the Mainstream the following year, in which the present painting was shown. His works are held in collections including the Zabludowicz Collection, London; Arsenal Contemporary Art, Montreal; and the Fundacion AMMA, Mexico.
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