Louis Estape ("Louie") worked at the Creative Growth Art Center for artists with physical, mental and developmental disabilities in Oakland, CA for many years, beginning in 1985. Over the years he developed an extensive body of art that reflected his world view, his community, his Honduran heritage, and most prominently, his relationship with God.
He was eight years old when he immigrated to the United States, but almost all his work still used images reflecting his central American origins. Over time the religious aspect of Estape’s work became increasingly pervasive. Always an incessant stream-of-consciousness talker, his conversation increasingly included religious monologues. His art expanded accordingly, reflecting his obsession with sin, punishment and redemption. His later works, in addition to scenes from the community, his home, his friends and animals, depict his religiosity: saints, angels, cherubim and God himself. Estape also used the sermon structure in his daily engagement with the world. In the course of his years at Creative Growth, Estape’s skills as an artist improved immensely and so did his comfort with revealing himself to the viewer in his art. His art is a literal depiction of himself in image and word.
Estape died in 2015.
For more background, please read my blog post on this website.
