LENKA CLAYTON & PHILLIP ANDREW LEWIS:
TWENTY-NINE TRAGEDIES

2023 Visiting Artists In Residence

August 26 - December 17, 2023 / The Way Field

Laumeier’s 2023 Visiting Artists in Residence are Pittsburgh-based artists Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis. This collaborative duo utilize innovative approaches to conceptualism and minimalism to realize their work in sculpture, performance, and multi-media installation. With playfulness and humor, they explore interconnectivity and tension within the human-nature relationship, often with a focus on the balance between the individual and the collective.

With playfulness and humor, Clayton and Lewis explore interconnectivity and tension within the human-nature relationship, often with a focus on the balance between the individual and the collective.

These colorful, tragi-comic kite-shaped aluminum sculptures, embedded into a lone poplar tree, express the amusement and creativity that kites symbolize and the sense of disappointment when they cease to function. Twenty-Nine Tragedies suggests kites as a type of kinetic sculpture that ties the user directly to nature. The tangled web of color, shape and string imparts a sense of humor central to Clayton and Lewis’ practice and expresses amusement, creativity, and the intersection between us and the natural world.

Twenty-Nine Tragedies also expresses the creative play and wonder of kites, toying with the delicate balance between control and chance. Clayton and Lewis’ vibrant installation takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the irony of kites being both propelled and obstructed by Mother Nature

Public Programs

ARTIST PRESENTATION / Thursday, August 10 / 7 p.m. / 21c Museum Hotel / Free
Join 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis for a presentation by artists Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis. For more information, please follow @21cstl on Instagram or visit
21cmuseumhotels.com/stlouis.

EXHIBITION OPENING / Saturday, August 26 / 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. / Free
The public is invited to celebrate the opening of the project with the artists in attendance.

DISCOVER LAUMEIER / Sunday, August 27 / 11 am – 3 p.m. / Free
Discover Laumeier invites all ages to explore Laumeier’s 105 acres, uncover the inspiring effects of artmaking, and soak in the calming and restorative benefits of the natural landscape. Among the day’s free offerings will be kite-related activities inspired by Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis’ installation, including a community kite fly. The Gateway Kite Club will be on hand teaching kite-making and sharing tips and tricks for successful kite flying in any weather. Other wind-driven art activities will include making flags and wind chimes. Learn more.

 VIRTUAL CONVERSATION / Thursday, September 28 / 6:30 p.m., via Zoom / Free
Join Laumeier’s 2023 Visiting Artists In Residence, Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis, for an artist talk to learn about their artistic practice and current installation at Laumeier, A Number of Tragedies (working title). Reservation link coming soon!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis are featured artists in the 2022 FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art. Other recent collaborative exhibitions include Darkhouse, Lighthouse, a permanent public artwork in Pittsburgh and Plaque, a permanent public artwork at Black Cube Nomadic Museum in Pittsburgh.

Clayton (b. United Kingdom) received her MA in Documentary Direction from the National Film & Television School, Beaconsfield, United Kingdom. She received her BA in 1999 from Central St. Martins School of Art, London. Her recent selected exhibitions include Blanton Museum of Art, Austin; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Columbus Museum of Art. Clayton is the founder of An Artist Residency in Motherhood, an open-source artist residency program.

Lewis earned his MFA in Photography from the Memphis College of Art in 2000 and his BA in Psychology from the University of Memphis in 1996. His recent selected exhibitions include The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing, Michigan; Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha and 21C Museum, Louisville.

2023 Exhibitions are supported by Alison and John Ferring, Ken and Nancy Kranzberg, Joan and Mitchell Markow and Two Sisters Foundation, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, and Mary Ann and Andy Srenco.

Lenka Clayton and Phillip Andrew Lewis and the Visiting Artist In Residence Program are supported by Whitaker Foundation and Windgate Foundation. The Visiting Artist In Residence Program is sponsored by 21c Museum Hotel St. Louis.