Thank you, Louis St. Lewis

Over its 42-year history, a handful of people have had an outsized impact on Artsplosure, none more than Louis St. Lewis. A prolific and talented artist, provocateur, and dynamic force, Louis, who had apprenticed with Andy Warhol, was a leading light of the Triangle arts scene. He achieved considerable national acclaim for his mastery of eglomise and mixed media assemblages.

Wherever Louis went, he left an unforgettable mark with his signature bon vivant aesthetic, both in his art and spirit.

Louis's first Artsplosure festival poster design was in 1994. For the Artsplosure festival in May 1997, his gender-bending image entitled Rites of Spring generated lots of controversy. It featured a man in drag as the flower-adorned, pomegranate-loving Greek goddess Persephone. It quickly became clear that Louis was targeting the sitting mayor of Raleigh, who had run a campaign attacking the Light and Time Tower and public funding of the arts in general. He was threatening to close a popular downtown drag club and defund a local art gallery that received City financial support. People even wondered if the image was the mayor himself!

At the time, the Artsplosure staff was blindsided and concerned, but, as Louis later told the Artsplosure staff, his “medicine may have stung at the time but it only made Artsplosure more famous.” And it did! This image went on to become one of our all time favorites.

We were fortunate to work with Louis on multiple occasions since then. Because of his unmatched creativity and importance to our history, for our 40th anniversary festival in May 2019, we again asked Louis to create the central image. Working with his colleague and neon artist Nate Sheaffer, he delivered a magnificent piece using the visage on our city’s namesake Sir Walter Raleigh.

Below Louis’s bravado and showmanship was a caring, generous, thoughtful, and introspective “Southern gentleman.” He was our dear friend and collaborator. Louis St. Lewis will be profoundly missed by the current and former Artsplosure staff.