The Menil Collection The Menil Collection

Artist Tony Lewis joins Edouard Kopp, John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute, for a conversation about the role of language, color, and drawing in his practice. They discuss his work from the last few years including Blue, 2017, a recent acquisition of the Menil Collection.

The live event will stream directly on this page and on the Menil’s YouTube channel on Thursday, September 24, at 6:00 p.m. CDT. No login or RSVP is required. You are invited to submit your questions for the speakers in advance and during the program to programs@menil.org.

Tune in 15 minutes prior to the program to hear a recording of Claire Chase performing Descent from Parnassus by Marcos Balter, courtesy of DACAMERA.

Tony Lewis was born in 1986 in Los Angeles and currently lives and works in Chicago. In an ever-expanding engagement with drawing, Lewis harnesses graphite powder to confront such social and political topics as race, power, communication, and labor. His work has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2018); Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA (2017); Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy (2016); and Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland (2015). He participated in the 2014 Whitney Biennial at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, and was the recipient of the 2017–18 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence Award at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, Waltham, MA.

Edouard Kopp, PhD, is the John R. Eckel, Jr. Foundation Chief Curator of the Menil Drawing Institute. He is responsible for the drawing collection at the Menil and also for the Drawing Institute’s programming, research, educational outreach, and administration. His recent exhibition projects include Jean-Jacques Lequeu: Visionary Architect (2019–20) and Silent Revolutions: Italian Drawings from the Twentieth Century (2020–21). He recently contributed to the Menil’s 2019 publication, Drawing Is Everything: Founding Gifts of the Menil Drawing Institute, with John Elderfield, Richard Shiff, and Terry Winters.

In Dialogue is the Menil Collection’s series of live, online conversations. Menil curators are joined by notable scholars, artists, and art professionals for engaging discussions about the museum’s collection, current exhibitions, and ideas shaping contemporary discourses about art. All programs are free and open to everyone.