Lewis is widely recognised as one of the world’s foremost sculptors of the animal form, especially wild cats; in recent years, he has used the human form to explore our relationship with our inner wilderness. His international career spans two decades and includes exhibitions in Paris, Sydney, Toronto, Houston and San Francisco, as well as numerous one-man exhibitions in London, where he is among the few living artists to have held solo auctions at Christie’s London.

His fascination with wilderness began during his upbringing in a religious fundamentalist family. Today, his interest lies in the path of non-judgement, which he describes as, ‘the burning point between tameness and wildness, between devil and God, between human and animal, that is both paradox and crucifixion’. Nature has come to symbolise this for him. ‘Unlike humans,’ he notes, ‘plants, birds, animals, clouds, rivers and oceans have no opinion of me; they are utterly indifferent to my existence. There is both a horror and a tremendous freedom in this realisation.