Living sculptures

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 captures the living sculptures in photos and films and eventually turn them into light boxes, video installations and NFTs.

Lou Rie and Karl Lagerfeld

Through an ephemeral amalgamation, in layers of thick but careful configurations, the human canvas is completely unrecognisable and disappears into the darkness of anonymity.

A Fist Of Beethoven (light box)

Sigmund Freud (light box)

I Scream Ice Cream (light box)

Brigitte Macron

Tintin meets Taxi Driver (light box)

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.