About the Artist

"Gnarled" 2025 oil on panel 32" x 24"

 I make art for the same reasons I did when I was a kid. To make things up and imagine they were real, or to draw real things and imagine they’re more than they seem. I grew up obsessed with myths, legends and folklore. Those stories depicted a world rife with meaning, magic and wonder. That’s how I want to paint. I paint in order to ask what it all means. You know… life, the universe and everything. I don’t paint to find the answers. I guess I paint just to keep wondering and asking the questions.

David Carmack Lewis (b. 1965) is a contemporary American painter and muralist exploring the boundaries between fact and fiction, obsessing over personal narratives, landscapes, science, myth and the power of metaphor to elicit unsuspected meaning. Born and raised in Virginia, he has also lived in New York City, Maine, Arizona, Wales and Namibia, before finally settling down in Portland, Oregon.

Mr. Lewis' oil paintings have won numerous awards and been widely exhibited in Museums, Art Centers and Galleries across the American West and beyond. He has painted large exterior murals for public and private entities throughout the United States. His work has been supported by grants from The Ford Family Foundation, The Oregon Arts Commission and The Regional Arts and Culture Council.

photo by Bobby Abrahamson