Art, Artist and band triumph at Broadhurst Gallery Opening

On Saturday, May 20, 1995 at 7:38 p.m., Moore County was dragged yelling and screaming into the 1990's when a super-stretch limosine entered the parking lot of the Broadhurst Gallery on Midland Road in Pinehurst, and Louis St. Lewis, Chapel Hill artist, stepped out with a group of friends to attend the opening reception for his art exhibition.  His hair bleached and crimped for the occasion, his garb evoked the image of " picture of Dorian Gray"  or its author, Oscar Wilde.  St. Lewis wore a white poet's shirt, a large silver indian necklace, velvet faux leopard skin pants, and gold rouge on his lips.  He held a short leash attached to a whippet which had been died with leopard spots for the event, a beautiful dog.

  When his limo ( supplied by Capitol Style Limo in Cary)drove up, a hostess informed me that " Louis likes people to greet him when he arrives, so would you kindly go outside to greet him". Definitely not usual Moore County stuff, I replied, though I dutifully did as told.

  St. Lewis, the artist, projects a performance in search of an audience.  Does he make art so that he can perform, or does he perform so that he can make art, I wondered.  Susan Hickman, the gallery director of the Durham Art Guild, who had driven from her home in Raleigh for the opening, told me, " He puts on the best show in North Carolina"  She didn't elaborate.

  A Norwegian source close to the artist told me, " He is an authentic person, what you see is what he is". Is this artist authentic, or just unique I pondered.  I guess it matters little as long as his art reveals a morsel of truth to us, the viewers.

   If you neglected this opening reception, you missed a symbolic joyous occasion.  For all his theatricality, St. Lewis, a fine artist presented a " new series of xerox transfer paintings on canvas and glass"  A critic once described him as a " maverick, mytho-punk, post modern artist" whatever that means, still it fits.

   And the rock-and-roll band was pure enjoyment.  Thats right. A rock-and-roll band, called Bus Stop, entertained at this art opening. People danced from 5 to 9 p.m. Advice to Broadhurst Gallery:  have a band at all your openings. Added just the right note.