Patrick Louis is a Miami Beach artist working in acrylic, encaustic, and photography. Painting sea life and queer life in bold saturated hues, reflective of the tropical color palette of South Florida.
Patrick Louis · below the surface
Patrick is a Miami Beach–based artist. He has been scuba diving since he was a child and has focused on capturing the beauty of South Florida above and below the waterline.
He works in acrylics, photography, and encaustics to create mixed-media pieces showcasing the sea life that he and his husband, Dave Grieser, are working to protect with a coalition of ocean advocates.
Alongside the sea life, he also paints a series rooted in queer life in South Florida — portraits from the South Beach, the queer establishments in Key West, men swimming in the buff, spandex and wrestling fantasies. Both bodies of work have shown together at events like Art Gaysel and Bone & Brush.
He founded Queer Easels, a monthly showcase for South Florida's queer artists, has exhibited from Miami Beach to Key West, and is a subject of the documentary Neon Reef.
Two series in acrylic, encaustic, and pigment print — the marine life of South Florida, from the tideline to the reef, and the male figure. Different subjects, the same saturated color and close attention to the living body.
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Neon Reef named Outstanding Community Project — recognizing creative, innovative work that promotes resilience in Miami-Dade County.
A monthly pop-up Patrick created and hosts at the Gaythering in Miami Beach — on the last Saturday of most months.
Every show puts four queer South Florida artists on the wall, each presenting their own work. It's a standing invitation to the local scene, and a night out worth planning around.
Last Saturday of the month · the GaytheringInterested in exhibiting your work? Send samples via email or Instagram — we're always looking for new artists to join us.
For decades the conventional story was that Miami Beach lost its reef to dredging and beach renourishment. But a stretch of it held on, a short swim from one of the busiest shorelines on earth, thriving against every expectation.
It has no formal protection. Boat anchors, warming water, and simple inattention all press on it. The art, and the film it inspired, exist to change that — to get Neon Reef designated as a marine protected area before the chance is gone.
For more information, visit the UPG website: upg.neonreefpark.com
Neon Reef · Miami Beach
Neon Reef follows the unlikely coalition fighting to protect this stretch of coral — and Patrick's photographs are part of how that story gets told. A sun-drenched, neon-lit case for paying attention to what's right offshore.
The art is the easy part. The reef needs a signature, a designation, and enough people who care to make it impossible to ignore. Add your name.