In this episode of In the Studio, SAM Artistic Director Danny Lacy visits multidisciplinary artist Richard Lewer at his temporary studio at Melbourne’s Abbotsford Convent.
Working across painting, drawing, animation and ceramics, Lewer reflects on a practice shaped by everyday encounters, personal relationships and the stories people share. The pair discuss Lewer’s use of found objects as vessels for storytelling, his artworks in the SAM Collection, and his journey to painting the portrait of Pitjantjatjara elder, senior artist and ngangkaṟi (traditional healer) Iluwanti Ken, which went on to win Lewer his first Archibald Prize in 2026.
See Lewer’s winning entry in the Archibald Prize 2026, on display at SAM until 1 November.
About Richard Lewer
Richard Lewer (b. 1970, New Zealand) has lived and worked in Melbourne since 1996. He is a painter, draughtsman, printmaker, sculptor and video artist, whose work presents an unsparing vision of the human condition.
Lewer is interested in the stories of other people – those he has encountered in his own life or observed from a distance, including the past. He is never afraid of grappling with difficult subjects or the darker side of life. His work is uncompromising in its expression of human extremes and deeply personal, presenting his subjects with empathy and without judgement.
Lewer studied at the Elam School of Fine Arts, Auckland and the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne. He has undertaken residencies in Australia and New Zealand and been awarded the APW Collie Print Trust Fellowship (2020), the Paul Guest Prize for Drawing (2020), Basil Sellers Art Prize (2016), Blake Prize (2014), National Works on Paper Drawing Award (2010), and the Wallace Art Award (2008). He has exhibited his work extensively in Australia and New Zealand, including two survey exhibitions: I Must Learn to Like Myself at the Waikato Museum of New Zealand (2010) and Nobody Likes a Show-Off at Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2009). His work is represented in major public and private collections in Australia and overseas, including Shepparton Art Museum.
Archibald Prize 2026 is an Art Gallery of New South Wales exhibition, whose regional tour is supported by major partner Optus.
Top image: Shepparton Art Museum