“I dream my painting and paint my dreams.”’
—Vincent Van Gogh.
In January 2022, 573 artists from 117 countries worldwide exhibited their 707 paintings at the 9th Beijing International Art Biennale at the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC).
One of the paintings from Trinidadian artist Junnel Lewis became a permanent feature in the largest art museum in the nation, in Beijing.
Speaking to WE magazine from her La Horquetta, Arima home, about how her work was selected to be included in the prestigious museum and her other paintings, Lewis, 43, said, “There was an open call during the year 2021; I submitted two paintings. ‘The Lake’ was selected on December 3, 2021, for the 9th Beijing International Art Biennale in China, which was part of the Winter Olympic event in 2022.
“With a theme of The Light of Life, the exhibit expressed the Olympic and anti-COVID-19 epidemic spirits and highlighted the dignity and value of human life.”
She said after the event, the NAMOC committee asked her if she would like to donate her painting to the museum as part of their collection.
Lewis said in 2023, she discovered that she was chosen to be included in Wu Weishan, the director of the National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) and vice chairman of the China Artists Association exhibit, The Light of Life, in the 9th Beijing Biennale further perspective.
This selection came after completing the tour of all the works on site. The studio selected one-tenth of the artists’ works for readers to further view.
Lewis explained that these artworks were not necessarily part of the work and did not describe the objective’s real purpose.
They, however, explored more into the creator’s subjective emotions and personal feelings; strong subjectivity had become their most distinctive label.
She said she conceptualised the theme for The Lake in her mind as she always tended to paint based on how she was feeling at the time.
Lewis said The Lake represents the calmness and stillness of the artist’s mind. It is the depths of the elements. The painting represents this through the balancing of the skies and water.
She felt honoured, grateful, and excited about her painting being in such a prestigious museum.
Lewis’ first name, Junnel, comes from a combination of her father’s and mother’s names, Junior Lewis and Nell Dedier, respectively.
She reminisced that when she was young, her late father, who was also an artist, always talked about the great museums and how artists should be honoured to have their work featured there.
“I never thought many years later I could honour his dream,” Lewis said.
Last year, she and her sister, Cleo Lewis, 29, exhibited four of their selected works in Venice, Italy, at the 2023 Canvas Venice International Art Fair for leading and emerging international artists.
Lewis’ pieces were The Savannah and Golden Forest, while Cleo’s were titled Bonita and Orange Me.
Lewis is an accountant by profession and has done work for the creative sector. Her most recent consultancy for the past three years was the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Financial Adviser for the Commonwealth Youth Games 2023 held in T&T.
She is currently employed in the government public sector.
People such as artists, musicians, and writers are described as being more emotional, intuitive, and creative and use the right side of their brain.
While people who have jobs such as accountants, scientists, or computer programmers are logical, analytical, and orderly and are left-brain dominant.
“In my career, both sides of my brain are used,” she said.
Lewis said the two fields of accounts and art complemented each other. She said accounts help her in the creative sector with her understanding of finding the logic in art, while art helps accounts by looking outside the box of logic and seeing the problem from a different angle.
Lewis said there were similarities and differences between the two fields.
“The similarity is how I approach a painting; the methodology and differences are one field allows me to be carefree while the other is systematic and task-oriented,” she said.
Lewis shared that she is ambidextrous; she can use both hands when she is painting.
When asked what artworks or pieces she was impressed by in the various galleries she visited, she said she visited Venice, Italy, last year, and she loves contemporary art. Lewis expressed her desire to visit China, especially NAMOC, to officially thank them for the opportunity.
Lewis recently visited many local galleries and there are many local artists she admires. She said she also got a chance to meet some of her favourite artists locally, regionally, and internationally.
Painting during the COVID-19 lockdown allowed Lewis to do “some of her best work.”
She is self-taught, and as a child, she started watching her father paint. She started drawing on the walls of their home. Luckily for Lewis, her parents supported her talents. Her mother would just repaint the wall white, her “fresh canvas,” she said with a smile.
Acrylic is Lewis’ favourite medium to work with; she describes her style as expressivism and impasto.
She admires and has been influenced by the famous Dutch post-impressionist painter Van Gogh.
When asked if she had any causes that she was passionate about, Lewis said that her father passed away from cancer, and a close friend also this year from the disease. She said her passion was giving back to her community of La Horquetta.
When asked if she did any charitable or humanitarian work or supported any environmental causes, Lewis said she tended to donate a lot of paintings for various causes.
Lewis loves dogs and plays golf as one of her hobbies.
Besides China, Italy, and T&T, Lewis has exhibited her work in the following places:
Regional
· Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) Caribbean Art Festival—Jamaica 2024
. Where Horse Reach-Kencept Solutions & East Yard (St Vincent and Grenadines) 2022
· IICA-EbA-CDF-Adapting of Art Murals (Dominica, St Lucia, and Antigua)
· Bridgetown International Arts Festival 2022
International
· London Contemporary 202-8th Edition
· Canvas International Art Fair-VISIONS-(Venice-Italy) 2023
· YICCA—International Contest of Contemporary Art 2022/2023 (Italy)
· Same Difference Homme (USA) & East Yard-Washington DC-2022
· Consulate General of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in Miami, 2022 “Scarlet Ibis” (painting donated) present
· The 9th Beijing International Art Biennale-2022—”The Lake”
· National Museum of China-2022, Lake”-
(Painting donated) present.
Last year, she volunteered her time to teach primary school pupils about art.
She wished she could continue, but work commitments prevented her from doing so.
Lewis is currently working on an open-call art exhibition. The event is scheduled for February 2025.
Her advice for young people, especially women who would like to be artists
is to never give up, and believe in yourself.
“You hear a lot of no; people will put you in a box, and you have to believe in yourself. You just need one, yes. The combination of two or more talents is not impossible.”