Living sculptures

The Mask We Wear

Marie-Lou Desmeules, alias Lou Rie, turns people into twisted lookalikes of pop celebrities, iconic figures and archetypes through a process that mimics plastic surgery. Instead of using Botox and a scalpel, she sculpts the new personas with her hands and brushes, wiping the model's identity under layers of paint and raw materials. She eventually captures the living sculptures in photo and video.

Signed archival prints are available upon request.

Lou Rie has performed over a hundred X-metic surgeries in more than a dozen countries. In this artistic experiment, gender, origin and social class blend together. Beneath each sculpture lies a unique story.

Façade, interractive video installation, Montreal, Canada, 2020

No matter who her subject is, or how visible they are in the public eye, Desmeules uses her paintbrush as a “scalpel” to brilliantly disfigure and dissect the exterior image, thereby uncovering a powerful—and universal—sense of human vulnerability.

Evan Hayley

The Mask We Wear

​Signed archival prints are available upon request. ​

No matter who her subject is, or how visible they are in the public eye, Desmeules uses her paintbrush as a “scalpel” to brilliantly disfigure and dissect the exterior image, thereby uncovering a powerful—and universal—sense of human vulnerability. ​Evan Hayley

Signed archival prints are available upon request.

No matter who her subject is, or how visible they are in the public eye, Desmeules uses her paintbrush as a “scalpel” to brilliantly disfigure and dissect the exterior image, thereby uncovering a powerful—and universal—sense of human vulnerability.

Evan Hayley