L
Louis was born in Bray Co. Wicklow Ireland in 1962. The youngest of 11 children, he was encouraged from a young age to paint. His parents were Art enthusiasts; his mother Luan would travel to auctions and snap up paintings and prints of a diverse nature that were to form a back drop to the young artist.
Louis entered the art establishment in 1981 when he did the foundation year at NCAD Dublin under the tutelage of Charles Brady RHA. From there his travels took him to Belgium where he successfully applied to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp where he studied the classical grisaille technique of painting between 1983/85. Here Louis studied under, among others, Dr. Hugo Heyrman one of Belgium's formost artists.
During the next few years Louis became friends with the American artist Tony Mafia whose loose colourful style was to leave a lasting impression on the artist. Unlike Tony, however, Louis was to continue working in oils and eschewed the use of pastels and watercolour.
He has had several solo shows and numerous group shows. Louis joined the Ballinamore Community Arts Group in 2010 an Artist-led gallery and Arts Center supported by the Leitrim Arts Office at Solas Gallery Ballinamore Co. Leitrim.
From 2010 to 2019 Louis became curator in residence at the gallery and curated in excess of seventy exhibitions including in 2016 Patrick Scott's first retrospective with Eric Pearse. Louis is available to any Arts Organisation as a curator and is available for exhibitions and interdisciplinary shows.