A Dumbarton artist has revealed that the impact of technology and lockdown inspires his work, which has been nominated for a prestigious prize.
Lewis Deeney, 26, a former pupil at Dumbarton Academy who is now studying for a masters in arts and humanities in Dundee, is on the longlist for the D31 Art Prize for his work examining the changing link between humans and technology.
Voting for the finalists is open until Thursday (March 18), with Lewis optimistic about his chances of making the final shortlist.
He told the Lennox: “I think I have a good chance, but I’m not fully confident of making the shortlist just yet.
“Because you can look at the votes live then you get a general idea, but I think I’m in with a good chance.
“There are a few people who have got an awful lot of votes because they have a massive social media following, but I think I’m in with quite a good chance all things considered.”
Lewis, who paid tribute to parents Lynn and Gerry, who still live in the town, for their support, explained that lockdown helped further spark his interest in the complex relationships between people and digital technology.
He now hopes that his entry, titled Everyone and No One, will get people thinking about their relationships with the online world.
“The work that I’ve put forward is from a theory called everyone is no one,” he explained.
“That is building on ideas around our relationship with technology and how our relationship with technology is changing who we think we are.
“Who do we think that we are in a world where everything is digital?
“It’s still a very new thing and I think it’s easy to forget how much we can change who we think we are online. There’s an element of ourselves which is now digital.
“You’ve got a digital persona, but how much of who you think you are is that persona? If we put everything up online then how much of ourselves is online?
“In the simplest terms, who do we think we are when we are living in this digital world?
“My work really reflects on that, an element of it is also based on what we then lose when everything is digital.
“That was one of the main questions I’m trying to ask within it, what does it mean? Are we losing an element of our humanity?
“How much of us is already part machine, because we are so intertwined with our technology?
“These are the questions I’m working at in the painting.”
And Lewis hopes that his work will engage with those viewing it.
He continued: “It’s all abstract shapes, if they were arranged in a different way then it would just look like an abstract painting. It wouldn’t have an element of a face to it.
“Our brain makes it into a face, so there is an element of being there – even though it’s very unrepresentative of a face we still perceive it that way.
“It’s everyone and no one. It’s you, but it’s not you. It’s all of us, but it’s none of us at the same time. There’s no gender, race, ideology. Anything. It’s just an element of humanity.
“That reflects on people’s online self. Is that the real you?
“It engages those who are interacting with it. They become part of the painting, I like my work to offer the viewer an opportunity to be a co-author with it.”
To vote for Lewis visit www.d31artgallery.com and to purchase any of his works visit newbloodart.com/artist/lewis-deeney.
