Dylan Lewis. An untamed force

Title: An untamed force
Authors: Dylan Lewis; Ian McCallum
Photographer: Gerda Genis
Genre: South African Art
Publisher: Random House Struik
Imprint: Struik Nature
Cape Town, South Africa 2015
ISBN 9781928213017 / ISBN 978-1-92-821301-7
Softcover, 23 x 28 cm, 224 pages, throughout colour photographs and illustrations

About: Dylan Lewis, An untamed force

The towering sculptures of Dylan Lewis are becoming well-known landmarks in South Africa, where they grace botanical gardens, golf courses, the foyers of sophisticated buildings and the halls of discerning collectors. Increasingly, they are being snapped up by galleries and institutions abroad. This volume builds on an earlier publication, bringing the photographic record of Dylan Lewis’ work up to date. The brief text reveals how the sculptor’s boyhood in a happily bohemian, nature-loving family inspired him, and traces his artistic development, from what have come to be known as ‘the cat years’ to his current, more esoteric and mythical approach. Co-developed with poet and kindred spirit Ian McCallum, who helps explain some of the formative influences at play, this classy and beautifully presented book showcases some of Lewis’ most ambitious and successful works in a series of dramatic photographs, and includes images of preliminary sketches and working methods.

Dylan Lewis is a second-generation South African artist of Welsh and Irish descent, who lives and works in the Winelands town of Stellenbosch, near Cape Town. He was born into an artistic family, with a sculptor father, an architect great-grandfather, and both a mother and grandmother who painted. Dylan Lewis followed in the family tradition, beginning his career as a painter and later turning his hand to sculpture, now his dominant medium. His international career spans two decades and includes exhibitions in Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Houston and San Francisco, as well as numerous shows and events in London.

Dylan Lewis is among the few living artists to have held solo auctions of his work at Christie's in London. Widely recognised as one of the world's foremost sculptors of the animal form, Dylan Lewis initially focused on the big cats as symbols of wilderness; in recent years, he has used the human figure to explore the Jungian notion of the "wilderness within". Continuing the theme of his acclaimed UNTAMED exhibition in Cape Town (2010-2012), these works explore the forgotten inner wild spaces of the human psyche, and the impact of this amnesia on the remaining wilderness areas of the planet.

Ian McCallum is a medical doctor, author, Jungian psychologist, wilderness guide, and founder of the Wilderness leadership school in the Cape.

Gerda Genis started her career as a young graphic artist, with a degree in Graphic Arts from the University of Stellenbosch, worked as a junior art director before going on a travelling sabbatical through Europe, which led to her journey into professional photography. Over the years she became highly specialized in fashion and beauty productions, in both the editorial and commercial disciplines.