Recent Paintings

Vardaxoglou Gallery is pleased to present a solo exhibition of new paintings by British artist Lewis Brander (b. 1995, London, UK), across both floors of our newly expanded gallery space. This is the artist’s second solo exhibition with Vardaxoglou and for the first time includes a number of large-scale paintings. An extended essay by Sam Lincoln will accompany the exhibition.

An observer of the shifts in natural light in both Northern and Southern Europe, the colour of the sky has become a constant reference in Lewis Brander’s paintings since returning to London from Greece three years ago. Upon moving to Athens in 2018, the artist became exposed to a new landscape and quality of light. Now working from the top-floor of a disused factory in East London, his studio’s views of the sky have allowed him to sustain this study of light over extended periods. This exhibition comprises new works based on locations of personal significance to the artist, in London and Athens, and continues an ongoing series looking at the view from the artist’s studio window and of the nearby Regents Canal. In his painting Brander references sites of historical significance both to industrial London and also to his own familial history; his ancestors were refugees from Eastern Europe and settled near the area where he now works. Brander combines these histories with a unique interpretation of the historical movements of English romanticism, post-war American abstraction and the School of London painters. The works presented are a device for which light and atmosphere are not only observed and recorded, but a place in which the language and history of painting is played out.