St.Lewis and Yseult -New Orleans Magazine

Louis St.Lewis- Sean Yseult at Fearrington-Smith Gallery

We all know artists, or at least people who think of themselves as artists.  But when you run across the real deal, they stand out from the competition like comets in the night sky, flamboyantly extravagant, extreme and unforgettable.  Such is the case with the artistic duo of St.Lewis and Yseult.  New Orleans residents will recognize the name of Sean Yseult as the multi-talented bassist for the arena rocking band White Zombie, who has made New Orleans her home now for several years and has as her residence a garden district manse as gothic as they come. No stranger to success, Ms. Yseult  has jammed on David Letterman and taken drugs with Dr. Leary.  Her home office is filled with golden records and awards, not only for her musical career, but for her stylish modern silk scarves which are sold in exclusive boutiques worldwide.   Her fellow classmate from the North Carolina School of the Arts, Louis St.Lewis took a different path in the arts but his history is just as interesting.   St.Lewis has discussed color theory with Paloma Picasso,  been photographed and praised by pop saint Andy Warhol, sketched in the nude by artist Robert Indiana, lavished with praise by artist Judy Chicago and  lives in the type of creative decadence and self imposed hedonism that would make Oscar Wilde prick up his ears.  Together and collaborating in the visual arts nearly 30 years after they first met, the pair are a formidable two-headed monster of artistic experimentation and wit.

The show, which balances almost equally the solo works of the two artist with their joint creations, is at once surprising and surprisingly logical.   Both artists posses a keen eye for design, in fact it is the eye in both that is more talented than the hand.  Both artists rely on machines as surrogate studio assistants, more interested the product than the path to getting there.  Yseult delights with her bold patterns and lush colors printed on silk, St.Lewis  it seems can run anything through a computer and create magic.  His large scale mono-prints created with transfered printer ink are modern day direct descendants of Warhol... Jake, Heath, and President Bush never looked so effortlessly modern.  When the Yseult-St.Lewis worlds colide, the effect is of another artist entirely, the sleek purity and craftsmanship of Yseult with the eccentricity and unbridled imagination of St.Lewis.  A match most definitely made in artistic heaven.      

Louis St.Lewis New Orleans Magazine

I WANT MY REVE D'ORLEANS

Art Lovers can probably agree that when pop artist Andy Warhol made positive comments about a fellow artist's work, that artist had finally "arrived".  It's like Hieronymous  Bosch  meets MTV."  Warhol said about Louis St.Lewis,  and artist who has finally physically arrived in New Orleans.  " Le Reve D'Orleans ( the Dream of Orleans) is a collaboration between Louis and musician Sean Yseult, member of the band Rock CIty Morgue and former white zombie bass player , in which they mix creative juices, resulting in photography, paintings and collage. " Le Reve" shows at Sylvia Schmidt Gallery.

Louis St.Lewis SKIRT MAGAZINE June 2009 party

If you loved the June cover of skirt! magazine, our Eve edition, with the amazing, complex, captivating blue-toned woman (so much to see in this piece of art!), you'll love skirt! after work next Tuesday night, June 23, at 518 West in downtown Raleigh.

That's because you'll meet that man, the one in the picture, the one and only Louis St. Lewis, a Triangle resident, who is the creative force behind this month's cover of skirt!

And, yes, in the photo, he's wearing a skirt, which makes us instantly fond of him.

In the past couple of weeks, I've had the good fortune of chatting with Louis by telephone and email. He sent me this wonderful picture to share. That's Vogue Editor-At-Large Andre Leon Talley sitting with him at a formal function. Mr. St. Lewis told me, "(Talley) is kind enough to have quoted that I was, 'The most stylish man in the South, St. Lewis is sable in a world of rabbit.'" I love it!

Mark Sloan, director of the Halsey Gallery at the College of Charleston describes Louis this way: "If people were electrical current, Louis St. Lewis would definitely be HIGH VOLTAGE." Louis finds that incredibly funny.

If you'd like to meet Louis in person, he'll be at our skirt! after work on June 23, 518 West, downtown Raleigh, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. We're so excited to be able to meet him and share his artwork with our skirt! readers.

We hope you'll join us! Who knows? Maybe Louis will wear his own skirt! to skirt! after work! It would not surprise me at all.

Louis St.Lewis SKIRT MAGAZINE June 2009

Louis St. Lewis was the perfect choice for The Eve Issue this month, as his celebrated mixed-media collages are frequently based on the intersection of mythology and religion. Andy Warhol commented that Louis’s work was “like Hieronymus Bosch meets MTV!” With over 30 national and international solo exhibitions to his credit, Louis’s creations are in the collections of such notables as HRH The Prince of Kuwait, Christian LaCroix, André Leon Talley and Oprah Winfrey. His artwork is also found in numerous museum collections, including the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Morris Museum and the Masur Museum. This fall, Louis teams up with Sean Yseult, artist and female bass player of White Zombie fame, for a collaborative show, “Pretty Babies,” at New Orleans’ Canary Gallery. For more information, visit myspace.com/louisstlewis or emaillouisstlewis@gmail.com.