Lewis DiCostanzo

(1949-2014)

Lewis was born in Stamford, CT in 1949,  the heyday of abstract expressionism.  The influence of the genre is seen in his early work, his "pour' paintings.   In 1972 Lewis won the William Henry Lowman Award for painting for one of his pour paintings, a large scale painting 4'x8'. 

Lewis began his study of painting at the Silvermine School of Art; continuing his studies and School of Visual Arts in NYC, graduating with degree in Fine Arts in 1974. He was recognized again in 1975 when he won the Ruth Steinman award for painting at the New England Show.

By the end of the 70's. Lewis had shifted his artistic focus from painting to music.  He had begun teaching himself to play the guitar when he was in his early twenties and spent the next 2 decades developing a career as a musician, singer/songwriter under his stage name, Lew York.

The consummate artist, Lewis ventured into Graphic Design in the early 1980's. As with every artistic form of artistic expression he would undertake, he immersed himself wholly in Graphic Design, studying at the Parsons School of Design in NYC.  He founded Carreras DiCostanzo Inc, together with a partner. Their partial client list consisted of such firms as Town & Country, Dancing Waters, Amacon, McGraw Hill and Cunard Line Ltd.

At the age of 59, Lewis reconnected with painting. While visiting his daughter in the Finger Lakes, she took him to one of the many beautiful gorges in Ithaca, NY with a sketchbook and pencils, with the task of giving an art lesson to his 2 grandsons. From that, his love for painting was rekindled. Lewis went on to paint over 600 paintings in the last 6 years of his life.

Lewis' paintings represent the culmination of the life of an artist. Lew's innate graphic sense is evident throughout his work: his strong use of images as representation, a bold and inviting color palette, and an elimination of extraneous details. Returning to patient in hs sixth decade of life, you see the expression of a man, his sense of humor, his profound connection to nature, his love for music and a continual search for expression, meaning and human connection.