Уильям Льюис: Художник, поэт и бунтарь Stuckismа

English painter
the Stuckist artist

William Lewis (born 1 August 1953) is an English artist, story teller, poet and mythographer. He was a founder member of The Medway Poets and of the Stuckists art group. Both Charles Thomson and Billy Childish, the later co founders of the Stuckists group, read at these events.

He spent a year unloading trucks in Chiesmans department store in Maidstone, then in 1976 he had a nervous breakdown, attempted suicide and spent three months in Crossfield psychiatric ward, West Malling. In Lewis's performances, he "jumped on a chair, threw his arms wide (at least once hitting his head on the ceiling)." In 1985, he was appointed as the first writer in residence at the Brighton Festival. During this time he performed at the Kent Literature Festival in Folkestone. His first major collection of poems Rage without Anger was published during this period. He read and published work on the theme of Human Rights. His poem "Red Guitar" dedicated to the murdered Chilean songwriter Victor Jara, was published in Chilean journals in England and translated into Spanish and published in an underground magazine in Chile. In 1989 the Nicaraguan poet and storyteller Carlos Rigby invited Lewis to Nicaragua, suggesting he would find the revolution receptive to his poetry. Lewis, with his wife Ann, embarked on a three month stay in that country. Lewis carried out a series of poetry readings there. Much of his experiences from this journey were later explored in his book The Book of Misplaced but Imperishable Names.

During this period that Bill Lewis performed three times with '60s star Julie Felix. In 1999 he was one of the founding members of the Stuckist art group along with Childish, Thomson and Ming. Lewis has been featured prominently in all the key Stuckist shows. In the 1990s Lewis experimented with singing some of his poems often using a frame drum made for him by an American Indian drum maker and also a Native American horn rattle. His sung poems have influences from shamanic, Latin American and middle Eastern tunes and rhythms. Throughout the 1990s he carried out many poetry reading tours, six on the East Coast of the United States, he also performed (in English) in Paris, France. Many of Lewis' American readings were organized by Professor Robert Parker Sorlien of the University of Rhode Island. Other readings were funded and organized by The Curbstone Press of Connecticut. The last of these readings was at a festival in Willimantic, Connecticut, where Lewis appeared on stage with Claribel Alegría, Naomi Ayala and Luis J. Rodriguez. During this period several of his short stories were translated and published in German newspapers and magazines. A few of his poems were also translated into Spanish.

His position in art in many ways stands for the Stuckist ethic. He has said "I do this because I can’t do anything else and I’ve spent 20 years doing it."