New Summer Paintings

New Summer Paintings

Works of Heart Auction

69 Kisses for Jake, mixed media on Arches paper by Louis St.lewis

Louis St.Lewis/Sean Yseult at Canary Gallery, New Orleans

The Art of Burlesque meets the Burlesque of Fine Art

“ Pretty Babies” New Works by St.Lewis & Yseult at CANARY GALLERY

Pretty Babies
New Work by Louis St. Lewis and Sean Yseult

Reception: Saturday, November 7th, 2009 6p-9p
Exhibition: November 7th - December 1st

CANARY Gallery 329 Julia St
504-208-3882
www.thecanarygallery.blogpsot.com

What happens when you cross the old-fashioned risqué glamour of turn of the century burlesque with the wild imagination of the most colorful artistic duo in the South? Well, you get an exhibition of seductive paintings and collages that radiate the sensuality and over ripeness of an Edwardian bordello.

Artists Louis St.Lewis (who’s works are in both the Ogden Museum of Southern Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art) and Sean Yseult (Musician, Parson’s alumni) have teamed up again for their 5th collaborative exhibition featuring eye popping images based on Yseult’s intimate photographs of New Orleans’ own 21st century burlesque review, Fleur de Tease.

Trixie Minx, Madame Mystere, Bella Blue, Rory Wrey and the other talented ladies of the troupe have, in the hands of St.Lewis and Yseult, been transformed into artworks that are both avant-garde and immediately recognizable, channeling the spirits of masterworks as varied as the dancers of Degas, the languid beauties of Red Light District photographer E.J. Bellocq and the erotic contortions of painters Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. The show features a little bump-and-grind, a little feather and shoe leather, and a little T & A for connoisseurs of both fine and erotic arts.

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.