United Talent Agency (UTA), one of the world's leading talent and entertainment companies, today announced the appointment of Arthur Lewis as Creative Director of UTA Fine Arts and UTA Artist Space. In overseeing these two UTA programs, Lewis will help guide the careers of artists represented in UTA's Fine Arts group and oversee exhibitions, programming, and partnerships with the LA and national art communities through UTA Artist Space in Beverly Hills.
A patron of the arts and a significant collector of both emerging artists and Contemporary African American Art, Lewis - who is member of the boards of The Hammer Museum at UCLA, The Underground Museum, and is a global council member at The Studio Museum of Harlem - is a well-known and distinguished figure in the art world. He joins UTA after serving as Executive Vice President of the New York Design Office for Kohl's, where he oversaw product design and development. Lewis has also held executive leadership roles at HSN, Hautelook, and Gap Inc., where he focused on brand management, merchandising, and product development.
Lewis will build on the legacy left by the late Joshua Roth, who founded and built UTA's Fine Arts group in 2015 and established UTA Artist Space in 2016.
"Having someone of Arthur's stature, vision and taste join UTA will be an invaluable asset for the artists we represent," said Jeremy Zimmer, UTA's Chief Executive Officer. "There is an amazing cultural collision occurring across society and artists are on the pulse. Arthur intuitively understands this cultural cross section and recognizes how UTA can be positioned at the center of the conversation-helping bring the strongest voices to light. At the same time, Arthur's extensive experience developing brands across multiple categories of business allows him to have the commercial perspective that is critical to today's artists."
"As a Los Angeleno and a collector, I've witnessed first-hand how important it is for artists to have space to experiment as they embark on ambitious career paths. My vision for UTA is to act as a partner to help realize artists' dreams, and build toward their futures,"
Arthur Lewis, Creative Director of UTA Fine Arts and UTA Artist Space. "I applaud UTA's commitment to innovation and its community, and I look forward to carrying that legacy forward, and deepening the connection with our audience and our artists."
Lewis will oversee UTA Fine Arts clients and projects, working closely with UTA Fine Arts Executive Lesley Silverman and UTA Artist Space Director Zuzanna Ciolek.
UTA Fine Arts was created to help contemporary artists apply their talents across other disciplines beyond the traditional art world and has programmed a series of successful activations, collaborating with artists to generate high-level programming, including the debut of Kurt Cobain's never-before-seen artwork at the Seattle Art Fair and one-of-a-kind exhibitions with
Larry Clark, Jake & Dinos Chapman, The Haas Brothers, Enoc Perez, Derrick Adams, Petra Cortright's largest video survey to date, and collaboration with the
Dennis Hopper Estate. The design for UTA Artist Space was the product of an organic partnership with Ai Weiwei, who first worked with the talent agency to develop and distribute his acclaimed documentary Human Flow. Upon seeing the raw concrete facade of the new location, the artist was moved to help execute an exclusive design concept for the
Beverly Hills space. In addition to his work on the architecture, Ai Weiwei's solo exhibition at UTA Artist Space, Cao / Humanity, was his first gallery exhibition in Los Angeles.
UTA Artist Space, created in 2016, is an extension of UTA's commitment to the Los Angeles art scene, as well as a venue for showcasing global talent and new work. Located in the heart of
Beverly Hills, the space continues UTA's history of helping artists gain access to new and better opportunities and helps drive UTA's commitment to expanding and redefining the role of talent and literary agencies globally. Recently, UTA Artist Space and
Swizz Beatz presented DREAMWEAVERS, a group exhibition curated by Nicola Vassell that contemplates the surreal in society against a vigorously shifting 21st century. Currently on view is a solo exhibition by Marco Castillo, his first solo exhibition in the U.S. after twenty-six years of collaboration within the world-renowned Los Carpinteros collective.
Photo Credit: Alex Berliner
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