Born: Honduras 1938

 

At 6' 3" tall and with an imposing build, Louis Estape ("Louie") is a commanding presence. He reinforces his physical prominence with an almost constant barrage of words, at low volume and lightning speed.

 

Estape has worked in the Creative Growth Art Center for artists with physical, mental and developmental disabilities in Oakland, CA since 1985 and in the intervening years has developed an extensive body of art that reflects his world view, his community, his Honduran heritage, and most prominently, his vision of his relationship with God. He was eight years old when he immigrated to the United States, but his work still uses images reflecting his central American origins.

 

Over time the religious aspect of Estape’s work has become increasingly pervasive. As his conversation has opened to include religious monologues, so has his art expanded, reflecting his obsession with religious concerns. Now, in addition to scenes from the community, his home, his friends and animals, much of Estape’s work depicts his religiosity: saints, angels, cherubim and God himself. Estape also uses the sermon structure in his daily engagement with the world. In eleven years, Estape’s skills as an artist have improved immensely and so has his comfort with revealing himself to us in his art. His art is a literal depiction of himself in image and word.

 

For more background, see article by Beate Echols: Improving on Reality – The Works of Louis Estape in: Folk Art Messenger #61, Spring/Summer 2004