Artist's Statement
If Agnes Martin were to work in cinnamon Trident, the result would be Este Lewis' photograph of a minimalist grid of familiar red rectangles."--Philadelphia Weekly
Soy Este creates a frisson in conceptual wallpaper art patterns. Imagine a wall of ?hot pink wafers?, colorful bindis, ?purple? and ?neon-green q-tips?, or chamomile tea leaves suspended in their muslin pouches. Her latest ingenuity features the ingredients of a martini compartmentalized into ziploc bags recently in exhibition at the Proposition Gallery* paired with the furniture of James Mont. Soy Este captures and then transforms the utilitarian into intimate, whimsical wallpaper design. With ?clear blue sparkle sponges?, ?yellow-tipped matches?, or ?wild blueberry stains?, Lewis crafts wallpaper designs that proliferate an object or an idea, and will envelope your gaze, but never obstructs a view. Her work pops with a Warholian aesthetic, but also displays poignancy and precision, like a rock garden.
As an artist who finds her objects primarily in markets, grocery and dollar stores, Lewis is a modern day gleaner of things, which somehow have more of a personality after she handles them. Lewis heightens our attention to the elegance of toilet paper and napkins, crackers and gum, fuses and foil, as she recasts the original into a definitive pattern, and a set of vibrant to poetic hues.
Lewis has brought ?that gum back into style? (Twin Peaks) in wildberry, blue mint, and cinnamon by stitching the pieces together digitally. She also pays attention to the detritus of dreams, and has said in a podcast that she has dreamt of ?such things as rainbow-tipped matches?. Soy Este ?white-tipped matches? and ?unpackaged gun caps? reside as the wallpaper art in the restrooms of The Shala (yoga studio). Rolling papers expand the walls of Plan B bar in New York?s East Village. The relation between Lewis?s wallpaper art and her photography is evident, in her depiction of a series of select frames recast from everyday life. Lewis?s photographic series called ?Color Me Thelma? stages an elderly woman in her home wearing monochromatic outfits. Her series of Thai woman and their food carts as mobile homes is a tribute to the power of working women and their artful displays.
Whether wallpaper designs or photographs, life is made larger and more compelling in these energetic close- ups that pack a punch in their own way and tend to inspire an unexpected appreciation of the ways in which designs are seeded. Soy Este?s winning works are available as single prints, or made to order as wallpaper art. Wallpaper patterns are conceptually transferable, for instance: into a bed of ?crackers? you can sleep with, and a ?tea? shirt. Each and every creation of hers is a new visual poem.
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1983, Este Lewis has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SUNY Purchase. Group exhibitions of her work include White Box Gallery; ?Yummy: A Show About Food? Nexus/Foundation for Today's Art, Philadelphia, PA; Seventh Biennial Exhibition (Curated by Cornelia Butler, MoMA) A.I.R. Gallery, NY, NY. Her public wallpaper installations are on permanent view at The Shala Yoga Studio and at Plan B Bar. Lewis?s wallpaper art has been featured in many magazines that include House Beautiful, Time Out, New York Magazine (?Best Bets?), Details Magazine, and The Food Network Magazine. Internationally, her work has appeared in Grazia Magazine Middle East, and Canada?s The Globe and Mail. Este Lewis lives New Haven, CT where she is an MFA candidate in Graphic Design at Yale University.
*From New York Magazine/ Home Design, March 23, 2011 One Woman?s Trash Is Another?s Wallpaper Having mastered the art of making wallpaper out of just about anything, Este Lewis is putting on a show at The Proposition gallery, framing the lavish mid-century furniture of Dilinger James Mont. Three spaces filled with Mont?s dense, rich fabrics and extravagantly textured surfaces will be nestled between walls of sponges, resealable plastic bags, chocolate-bar wrappers, and butterfly stickers. (2 Extra Pl., at E. 1st St.; 212-242-0035; 3/26?5/1)