About
CHASING THE SUBLIME
"A good movie should make you laugh, cry, and scare the hell out of you." —William Castle, director of B-movie horror films
The quote above might sound obvious coming from a director of scary movies, but Castle's idea about how film should impact an audience is quite similar to how philosophers and artists speak of the sublime in all the arts.
I am not interested in simply creating pretty or beautiful works. Instead, I am more interested in creating works that reach for the sublime. These are paintings that stop and engage the viewer—work that is built around a narrative, whether implied or obvious, that speaks to a deeper meaning beyond the surface. To reference another movie-related idea: it demonstrates the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Of course, I don't always succeed. It's a journey where the destination seems to be just over the horizon. But, like many important things in life—love, forgiveness, wisdom, etc.—chasing the sublime is a process, not a single action or revelation. And so, the journey continues.
I am a professional artist living in Tomball, Texas. have always been drawn to the landscape as my primary source of inspiration. I have travelled to every corner of the American Southwest and Texas looking for special places and vistas to paint, with he goal of finding the numinous and transcendence in everything.
WHAT'S IN A NAME?
My last name, Lungwitz, is a Germanisized Slavic name. It originated in the area around Dresden, Germany (Saxony). It is first mentioned in 1340, when the village of Lungwitz was founded just a few miles south of Dresden. The spelling changed to Lungkwitz with a "k" a little later on.
I'm proud to say that I share this surname with Hermann Lungkwitz, considered to be the first permanent landscape painter in Texas (his family line uses the spelling variant with the "k" in the middle). He was born in 1813 in Halle, Germany and later trained at the Dresden Academy of Fine Art from 1840 to 1843. In 1850, he emigrated to Texas with his family. They settled outside Fredericksburg and for the next few decades, Lungkwitz painted the Texas Hill Country.
My German grandfather, Clemens Alfred Lungwitz, was born in a small village near Dresden. I have no direct familial link to Hermann Lungkwitz, but like him, we share a similar origin story.
As a painter of Texas landscapes I am proud of the fact that I am in some small way continuing the name and artistic tradition of the original, permanent Texas landscape painter.
Painted by fellow German artist, Richard Petri.
Hermann Lungkwitz, 1864
Clemens Alfred Lungwitz, 1912
Painted by fellow German artist, Richard Petri.
1983
BFA in studio art, minor in Philosophy
Sam Houston State University
Huntsville, Texas
2008–2010
One-week show in May of each year
Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art
Malibu, California
2022
Solo landscape show
October–December, 2022
Santa Barbara, California
2023–2024
Nine-month mentorship with artist Duane Keiser.
2024
Launched an online store and email newsletter.
2025
Second- and third-place awards at the Tomball Art League Fall show.
2026
First-place, First Honorable Mention, and an Honorable Mention at the Tomball Art League Spring show.
People's Choice Award at the annual Lone Star Art Guild juried show in Tomball on June 13.
Honorable Mention for "it's a Turbulent Day in the Neighborhood" at An Artist's Work, a city-wide juried exhibition in Houston held at the Sawyer Yards arts complex.