The Mask We Wear
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.
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.