commentary from Peter Vigar

The Work created in the period 1994-2004 issued from the painter's experience of London and the selection of notable sites such as Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly, Bank etc, would suggest a largely topographical interest, a celebration of the city and its 'iconic' places. There are carefully made drawings with a scenic point of view, a notation of grand architecture, perspective, etc. which could indicate this intention, but it is significant that this approach is not realized in the painting. More central, more typical are the drawings of an altogether different kind. These are the sketches made close up at street level as a reaction to an intense urban experience and it is the manner in which this is expressed that brings into question the issue of topography and the manner in which these locations are conventionally imaged.

Of the sites chosen it was the Bank which offered such potential that it alone of the London sites was developed as a series. This 'iconic' space which represents the power and foundation of the City of London and, by extension, the nation, is dominated by the three neo-classical edifices which embody the values indicated above. The Bank is also the point at which an historic street pattern brings the greatest convergence of traffic of all kinds and this is an important factor in the artist's choice of location. The site is, of course, of great topographical interest and is firmly on the tourist map. A point of view repeatedly treated by Lewis in the series also receives special notice in an international guide where the Royal Exchange ".... provides a fine view of the Mansion House". However, it is clear from the body of work inspired by the location that it also represents a very oblique attitude towards the conventions of topography and the cultural perceptions which the genre registers. 

The great majority of the drawings were made from two points of view, i.e. up toward the Royal Exchange or down toward the Mansion House, and whilst these two imposing classical buildings are always in view they are not the subject as such. Along with other buildings they are the setting, the backdrop and although they serve to compress the pictorial space, they are of great significance for the ideas expressed in the series and are a key to meaning. The drawings are spontaneous, with the hand automatically tracing fleeting impressions of the continuous movement, the energy and turbulent rhythm of the dense traffic. But it also registers an emotional response to the impact of this experience. The evocative sketches are of strong contrasts and forceful mark making and have an almost theatrical sense of drama.

The gestural freedom and power of the drawing is carried into the painting where it is inscribed in thick impasto in the pigment creating a dense relief texture across the picture plane. The development of drawing into paint is apparent where lightly drawn, smudged and erased areas are rendered as more heavily pigmented and woven into a vigorously brush-worked surface. However, dramatic contrasts of chiaroscuro are not manifested in the colour and there is little interest or exploitation of the multi-coloured array presented by the traffic, advertising etc. Instead there is a consistent tonal approach and a subtly orchestrated range of blue, brown and grey that is characteristic of the London paintings as a whole. Given the free expression of the preparatory sketches, colour is kept on a tight rein with touches of pigment giving the work a richly sombre quality. 

The series of drawings of the Mansion House are made in greater close-up and project the painter's street level involvement. These tend to be more lightly drawn, with fewer marks and more open smudged and erased areas. This allows opportunity for the painting process to be more flexible and open-ended. These features contribute to work of a more fluid character and, as in the compressed format of "Bank Series No 3", a more abstract and unstable quality. Unlike the compositition of the Royal Exchange works the classical motif is pushed to one side, it lurches and appears to be carried away in a confused and turbulent flow of traffic. Compared with those of the Mansion House, the works of the Royal Exchange are made on more conventional lines as a formal approach is brought to the Drawing "No 1A". The subtle changes that occur between this source and the painting are indicative of a tempering of meaning taking place in the creative process in the studio. There is rather more detail involved in the notation of objects and architecture, stronger elements of perspective in line and colour in the impression of pictorial space. More than in any other in the series a rising view point utilizes the compositional power of the centre and a square format further compresses the subject. The firm geometry of the classical façade occupies this centre and is flanked by vertical elements and the whole has a marked symmetry. In the chiaroscuro of the drawing the façade stands out as a striking white presence strongly contrasted with a confused foreground. In the painting process the geometrical underpinning is developed to place this focal element higher on the picture plane with the pediment forming the apex of a pyramidic organisation of the foreground. However, the classical feature is now less striking, less stable and more distorted as it is merged with the brushwork and the tonal quality of the left background. The foreground mass of the traffic is rendered with much greater weight and depth, the result of the use of impasto in a forceful gestural attack. In the context of the series the painterly factors of "No 6" are more restrained and tend to follow the degree of definition established in its source drawing "No 1A". This painting, which may be the culmination of the series, and being stylistically more conventional in the creation of a more scenic space, could be seen to embody trace elements of the topographical. But this reference might only serve to show an ironic disposition towards the celebratory nature of the genre and also, at one and the same time, to substantiate and clarify the ideas and issues that urge the work of the London period as a whole.

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