Tony Lewis joins Olney Gleason
Tony Lewis in What drawing can be: four responses at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston, 2025.
NEW YORK, NY.—
Olney Gleason announced the representation of Tony Lewis (b. 1986, Los Angeles, CA). The artist’s first solo exhibition in New York will go on view in the gallery’s flagship location in Chelsea from May to June, 2026, debuting new bodies of work. A large-scale work on paper from the artist’s Shorthand series, previously featured as part of the exhibition What drawing can be: four responses at the Menil Drawing Institute, Houston, will be included in the gallery’s Art Basel Miami Beach presentation from December 3–7, 2025.
Tony Lewis expands the conceptual and material possibilities of drawing in a practice that spans large-scale works on paper, sculpture, collages, digital projections, and site-specific installations. Language, and its formal and material qualities, are central subjects in Lewis’ work. Examining semiotics and drawing as parallel forms of abstraction, he appropriates and adapts forms including the Roman alphabet and the phonetic symbols used in stenography. In his vibrant Shorthand series, Lewis invents and utilizes a signature glyph alphabet based on bisecting lines and biomorphic planes of color encoded with references to specific historical or current events that engage with themes of race, power, and communication. Lewis’ work suggests that, as with any social system, language both reflects and actively impacts the Black American experience.
Eric Gleason says, “It is an honor to be representing Tony Lewis. Tony’s inimitably rigorous practice has redefined what drawing can be, and Olney Gleason is incredibly excited to present his long overdue first solo exhibition in New York City in the Spring of 2026.”
Nicholas Olney says, “We’ve followed Tony’s work for many years and eagerly await his first exhibition. We have been struck by the breadth of connections to our program, including historical artists working in abstraction such as Lee Krasner and Robert Motherwell, and those innovating with drawing and collage. We warmly welcome Tony to Olney Gleason.”
