Lady of the Day & Lady of the Night

2023

Design Museum of Chicago
72 E Randolph St
Chicago, IL 60601

Deconstructed Design Elements “Lady of the Day” & “Lady of the Night”
Materials: Styrofoam, plaster, acrylic paint & varnish

Over the a few years, Kate Lewis was taken by the concepts of time, color, and femininity, and has been playing with conceptual ideas that elicit feelings of female empowerment throughout time.

“The passage of day to night, and back again, has been how I visually represent my fixation on the elasticity of time, often depicting equally weighted pieces that highlight both a day-scene, and night-scene. I see the world in these two tones - light and dark - and love that the peak of both day and night illuminate such different colors that then color our experience in any given place.” 

Lewis chooses to paint each piece of these puzzles with respective tropical pastel warm-toned, and cool-toned palettes that reflect the  duality of day and night, and draw upon her upbringing around sun-stained South Florida architecture.

With a woman’s lips representing sensuality on the female facade, she decided to break apart each sculpture with a distinct carving of lips that protrude from the rest of the form to highlight the prevalence of sexuality as it relates to feminine empowerment. Overall, the forms are constructed to be boxy in nature to symbolize strength and resilience, with rounded edges to reflect the softness of women. 

About kate lewis

Lewis’ practice rests at the intersection of impossible geometry, architecture, and the human body. She pairs clean, hard lines with bold color to create intricate, mesmerizing visual narratives that weave into the architecture of a community. Ranging in size, scale, and conceptual framework, Lewis has collaborated with major companies, cities, and municipalities to create over 60 unique murals across the United States.