Born in New York City in 1953, Leslie Lew grew up in the suburbs of New Jersey and Chicago. Her father was a well-known advertising executive and her subject matter was influenced by the commercial ads and products that surrounded her. Her underlying theme deals with childhood memories, growing up in America. She examines American culture and how it reflects on our tastes historically – good and bad.

Lew received her B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This is where her idea of “sculpted oils” first developed, manifested through her supermarket paintings. Inspired by her father’s work in advertising, the product labels and aisles in the supermarkets were a wealth of inspiration for the artist. Pop-culture items like food packaging and comic books became the foundation of Lew’s subject matter. Using icons like Wonder Woman or Dick and Jane, Lew reaches back through the pendulum of American culture, wringing out childlike moments that many have too-soon forgotten.

While Lew became famous for her work in the East Village, being in Chicago prepared her for her future transplant to New York. While at the SAIC under the advisement of Ray Yoshida, Lew worked amidst the Hairy Who, a pop art styled collection of artists under the umbrella of the Chicago Imagists.

During her graduate work, she was invited to participate in the SUNY/ Semester in New York City, a program much like the Whitney Museum’s, where she was given a studio with weekly critiques by respected artists of the time. She ended up staying in NYC and had her first solo show at Sensory Evolution Gallery as one of the artists from the East Village Art Movement. Lew’s idols for artistic inspiration are Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Peter Max, and Fra Filippo Lippi. She’s inspired by the unique attributes of each artist, pulling from pulp fiction and pop culture, her liberal use of color, and warm, nostalgic values.

Lew lives and works near Peekskill, N.Y. Her works have toured in museum exhibitions sponsored by the Carnegie Mellon Museum and the Guggenheim (upon whose walls her paintings have hung) and she’s shown in the best “high end” New York galleries next to works by Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Man Ray. She has been a professor at the College of New Rochelle, and was selected for the Westchester Bienniel 2006, and 2008. She received a grant for a children’s book she wrote and illustrated called, “Buki’s Garden,” which inspired free workshops held at children’s hospitals and learning centers in 2013.  Her work has been included in art book publications, “Encyclopedia of Living Artists in America,” “East Village: A Guide, A Documentary,” “East Village 86,” and The Guggenheim’s “Comic Release – Negotiating Identity for a New Generation.” She was named “Artist of the Year” in 2009 by Liquitex Paint.

Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, and Sofia, Bulgaria. She recently has been included in the book “The Martin Z. Margulies Collection,” published by DAP, outlining Marty Margulies’ extensive 20th and 21st century art collection.