Over the past decade, Dylan Lewis has been creating a unique seven-hectare sculpture garden in South Africa located in the foothills of the Stellenbosch mountains situated outside Cape Town. To facilitate further expansion of the garden he has decided to release works from his personal collection to be auctioned. Created by the artist over the past two decades, these sculptures are the last remaining commercially available examples of each edition. Acquired by both collectors and royalty, many of Dylan Lewis’ sculptures are also in public collections. The top lots of the sale are Running Cheetah Pair II (estimate: £60 000–100 000) and Leopard Lying on Rocks (estimate: £60 000–100 000). Estimates range from £2 000 to £100 000.
For collectors
Andy Waters, Curatorial Director and Nathaniel Nicholson, Christie’s Head of Sale noted, “Christie’s is pleased to be collaborating with Dylan Lewis for the auction ‘Shapeshifting’. The striking sculptures encapsulate his unique oeuvre in bronze emulating his love for the African landscape and what it represents to him metaphorically. The sale offers the last opportunity for buyers to acquire these editions, appealing to new and discerning collectors alike. This sale follows successful sales of Dylan Lewis’s work at Christie’s in 2007 and 2011.”
The creative process
Discussing his creative process Dylan Lewis explains, “With both forms, human and animal, I work directly from life. The tactility of clay is important, it is a highly expressive material. Clay allows me a freedom. It allows me to express emotion in an immediate way. For me, part of a journey towards authenticity has been to re-wild the psyche in some way. My creative process is an attempt to concretise a kind of felt emotion into physical form in order to understand and endure, and, somehow, survive and make sense of the human condition.”
To view the full sale and find out more please see the sale page.
