Artist Interview: Lewis Deeney
What effect has folklore had on the way you see the world?
Folklore has expanded my worldview, to see more of the world than we can experience in our everyday waking consciousness. Folklore explores the bigger questions in life, questions without a logical, definitive answer, guiding us towards a deeper truth, using symbolism to explain the unexplainable.
We see the world as a story, it’s our way of making sense of things. Science tells a story of logic which informs our world view, it’s helpful yet incomplete but is the dominant story believed by the mainstream, and one I unconsciously adopted. By engaging with myth and the wisdom of the ancient past, I began to question my assumptions and ask deeper questions about the nature of reality.
Many of the truths of folklore are psychological truths, which can only be experienced in human consciousness and often cannot be measured. This does not mean to say they are not real, they are real in our human experience even if they cannot be observed in the material world. As quantum physics has shown us, what is “real” doesn’t have a simple answer, and the reality of consciousness could be more real than the material world.
What do you hope the readers get from your piece?
This piece is inspired by the mandala, an ancient symbol found across time and space and embraced by countless cultures, many of whom had little to no contact. Despite its beautiful variety of expressions, its meaning has been consistent, at a fundamental level, the mandala symbolizes a balance of opposites and the interconnected of all things. Through meditation on the mandala, we can achieve psychological wholeness, as described by Carl Jung, as we integrated the differing parts of ourselves into totality of who we are. We find balance between the light and darkness within us.
My painting isn’t a traditional mandala, I have abstracted is traditional, radial symmetry into fractured asymmetric shapes. However, the composition is unified by the underlying mandala structure, which is the blueprint that my design emerges out of.
My work is a modern mandala for the modern world, I want to reimagine the wisdom of the past in the present. To share universal, archetypal images as an offering for viewers to connect with themselves, to see themselves within the painting and find their own meaning within it. Insight must come from within, my paintings are a journey not a destination, a journey inward to find balance within us. Everyone’s journey is unique and everyone’s experience of the painting and the meaning they find within it will be unique, however, through investigation into our own psyche, we can connect with the universal human experience that we all share.
What aspect of the modern world is your piece commenting/reflecting on?
The need for us to reconnect with ancestral wisdom. Not to revert to the past but to evolve the wisdom of the past into the present moment. As a society we are disconnected from ourselves, from each other and from our planet.
Our relationship with modern technology is a big factor in our current disconnect, paradoxically, considering from one perspective we are more connected than we have ever been. Technology isn’t inherently bad, its inevitable, but our relationship with it is mindless and our technology has been manipulated for money, power and control.
The answers to our modern problems have their roots in ancient wisdom. We are not the isolated beings we perceive ourselves to be, we are an integral and important, in addition to beautifully unique, part of our shared human story. Just as every piece of my painting is separate and unique but an essential part of the interconnected whole of the painting.
My work uses technology to reimagine ancient symbolism. I use a laser cutter to cut my design into separate pieces before I abstractly paint them and put them back together. Balancing old and new, physical and digital, in my creative process, paying homage to the past while embracing the present.
The essence of this work is to find balance within yourself, to understand yourself, to see and experience the potential within you and embrace that potential to become the totality of who you are. As both a beautifully unique individual, and as a part of the interconnected whole of humanity and our planet.
If you were a cryptid or folkloric creature, which one would you be and why?
Answering this in respect to my paintings, I would like to say a Phoenix. A Phoenix dies and is reborn from the ashes, it symbolizes transformation, death, rebirth and the cyclical nature of our existence. The mandala symbolizes the cyclical nature of our existence, with an emphasizes on the interconnectedness of all things, which is cyclical.
The cycle of transformation through death and rebirth is psychological rather than physical, for us to flourish and grow we must allow old parts of ourselves to die. Clinging on to who we used to be, old beliefs and habits can stop us from reaching our full potential. To progress through life, we must let parts of ourselves die so that new parts of ourselves can live. We don’t fully die, but parts of ourselves do. Fire symbolizes purity, we burn away that which is no longer serving us and rise from the ashes renewed. Our past is still a part of us, it always will be, however, we do not need to be attached to it. What served us in the past may no longer serve us in the present, this can be difficult to accept, but like the Phoenix we can be reborn, cleansed from our attachments to the past.
My work asks us to look inwards, to understand ourselves, and through the process of self-discovery we uncover parts of ourselves no longer serving us which we must let go of. The Phoenix resonates with me because it symbolizes this transformation through the ritual cleansing of our past attachments, burning away parts of ourselves to become more than we were before.
There’s a mysterious figure that lives near your village. Would you heed the warnings of the elders or venture into the unknown? And what everyday object are you taking with you for protection?
I’d venture into the unknown, my curiosity would compel me too, as much as I feel we should respect the wisdom of the elders, we also need to mindfully challenge it and go on the adventure.
I would bring a peace offering, like food and coffee, to try and build a connection with the mysterious figure over some coffee and conversation. I’d also bring some art supplies for communication that is beyond words, or in case we don’t share language, we can communicate visually with symbols.
I would need to respect the warnings of the elders and probably take a weapon, just to be safe, it would be unwise not to, but I’d hide it in amongst my art supplies as to not provoke the mysterious figure. Maybe a sharpened paint brush or something just in case. However, I would not approach in confrontation, I would be open and seek a genuine connection.
If monsters are a manifestation of a society’s fears, what monsters exist in our modern folklore and why?
Zombies are such a common monster in modern stories, but the fear of zombie’s isn’t about mind infecting mushrooms or people rising from the dead. Zombies symbolize mindlessness and being alive without fully living. Which is happening to many of us at the moment, and our devices are a big factor in this. Next time you’re on a train, look around, almost everyone is locked into their devices, often mindlessly, unaware the world beyond the screen. For some it is productive, I love listening to podcasts when travelling, however, when you avoid your devices and observe, people actions start to resemble zombies.
How many of us will reach our deathbed and realize we never actually lived the life we wanted, we never took the risk or went on the adventure. We lived our lives mindless, living without being alive. Living our lives like a zombie. I know this is a fear of mine, a life unlived.
I feel it also goes deeper, deeper than simply being adventurous, it comes down to mindfulness. How much of our life are we not present for, whether were distracted by our devices, our anxieties or our to do list. We can live through the most meaningful experiences of our lives and then realize we were not present during them. Just like a zombie, alive and physically present but not truly living and mindful of our existence.
You can follow Lewis on Instagram and TikTok @lewisdeeney
Get a look at Lewis' piece "Destruction & Creation" in our first issue, launching August 22nd!
[originally posted to Patreon on 3/8/25]
