Lew Baldwin is an American artist and filmmaker whose body of work spans video installations, film collaborations, painting, internet-based work, and music. He graduated from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a B.F.A. in 1992. An early pioneer of digital art, Baldwin's website redsmoke.com was selected for the Whitney Biennial in 2000.
In 2001, Baldwin created Milk Milk Lemonade for Bitstreams, the first all-digital exhibition at The Whitney Museum of American Art. This interactive installation featured a live text wall, allowing museum visitors to post their thoughts, poems, or other messages in real-time via a public website—years before the rise of platforms like Twitter. Milk Milk Lemonade was also installed in Venezuela shortly after the 9/11 attacks, turning the wall into a platform for public dialogue.
In 2002, Baldwin developed goodworld.ws, another project for The Whitney, which stripped websites of images and text, reducing them to abstract color blocks. This work was a response to the rampant commercialization of the internet at the time, intended to “wipe the internet clean” and wrap your browser, similar to a Christo piece.
Lew’s connection to film began at a young age, when, at 19, he worked as a Video Assist Operator on the set of the classic film A League of Their Own. Some of Baldwin's notable contributions to film include the striking visual sequences for the feature film November, starring Courtney Cox and James Le Gros. These effects were created using practical in-camera techniques involving glass, water, and ink. He also composed the film’s soundtrack and provided additional camera work. November won the Cinematography Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Baldwin also appeared in the film Groove, playing the character Toby, and contributed two songs to the film’s soundtrack. He directed the short film Abraded in 2010, which was featured at the Woodstock Film Festival.
In 2019, Baldwin returned to painting, seeing it as a natural extension of his digital and motion-based work. His art has been exhibited at the New Museum, Pasadena Armory for the Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art, The Art Association in Jackson Hole, WY, Sundance Film Festival, and in various international venues, including Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, and Japan. His work has also appeared in ID Magazine, Wallpaper, and USA Today.
(scroll for CV)
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
lewbaldwin.com
@afantasticplace
@lewbaldwin
Select Group Exhibitions
2023 Red Hook Open Studios, Feinberg Studio, Brooklyn, NY
2013 Smoke Grass, part of Psychic TV: Dreams Less Sweet, The Andy Warhol Museum, Philadelphia, PA, video
2012 Breath3, Plink Flojd at NOVA®, São Paulo, Brazil, video exhibit
2010 Araded, Woodstock Film Festival, Official Selection, short film
2009 Untitled, Cube Considered, Monkeytown Space, Brooklyn, NY, video
2005 Goodworld, Rhizome Artbase 101, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York
2004 Not To Worry, Club Canyon, Group Show at Harmony Gallery, Los Angeles, prints
2004 Divine Nature (duplex), Art In Motion V; SYZYGY, Pasadena, CA, two screen video installation
2003 GoodWorld, prints and computer, Bank Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2002 MilkMilkLemonade, website, SHIFT JAPAN, online clothing project
2002 GoodWorld, Whitney Artport, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
2002 Warriors by Michel Garneau, The Culture Project, New York, video installation for off-Broadway play
2002 Red + Red, Den Furniture Gallery, San Francisco, CA, one screen video installation
2002 Heroes and Villains, New Frontiers, The Art Association, Jackson Hole, WY, video installation
2001 Milk Milk Lemonade, Bitstreams, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, video installation
2001 Milk Milk Lemonade, Dumbo Festival, Mastel + Mastel Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, video installation
2001 Milk Milk Lemonade, X Course, Fundacion Polar, Caracas, Venezuala, video installation
2000 Redsmoke, Whitney Biennial 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, video installation
2000 Redsmoke, Am Ort - Andernorts, Kuenstlerbund, Berlin - www.kuenstlerbund.de, video installation
2000 Redsmoke, FIB, Benicassim Music Festival, Benicassim, Spain, video installation
2000 Redsmoke, F.I.L.E., Festival International de Linguagem Electronica, Sao Paula, Brazil
2000 Redsmoke, IMPAKT Electronic Arts Festival, Utrecht, Netherlands - www.impakt.nl, video installation
2000 Redsmoke, Net Effects, Kunstvlaai 4, Amsterdam, Netherlands - www.pavu.com/netaffects, video installation
2000 Augmented Groove, SIGGRAPH 2000, collaboration with ATR, MIC labs Japan
1999 Redsmoke, Window Into Hell, Robert Berman Gallery / d5 projects, Santa Monica, CA, video installation