Biography
Multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the construction of identity, Marie-Lou Desmeules has conquered many countries' attention by creating impactful representations of modern personalities and pop figures. She was awarded a fellowship residency at Anderson Ranch Arts Center, in Colorado, in 2017. Her work has been exhibited in several countries all over Europe and North America since 2005, present in the Spanish television series "Maricón Perdido" and runner up with her latest film at the Interfilm Festival in Berlin, Germany. Marie-Lou is co-founder and Head of Art at TID hNFT Research Institute.
Artist Statement
My work depicts twisted look-alikes of celebrities, iconic figures and archetypes through a process that mimics plastic surgery. Instead of using a scalpel, I sculpt the new persona with my hands and brushes. In thick but carefully configured layers, the human canvas is unrecognizable and disappears into the darkness of anonymity.
X-metic surgery is an ongoing project that I started in Berlin in 2008. Inspired by plastic surgery, social mask, BDSM, anonymity and artists like Cindy Sherman and David Lynch, my work explores the construction of identity. It investigates the ambiguity between beauty and ugliness that contributes to the complexity of self-perception.
X-metic surgery aims to awaken the observer's awareness of what they represent through their mask in this image-obsessed society. This mask is created by the way they "curate" their image on social media, cosmetic surgery, beliefs and other filters that they consciously or unconsciously create.
X-metic surgery is an ongoing project that I started in Berlin in 2008. Inspired by plastic surgery, social mask, BDSM, anonymity and artists like Cindy Sherman and David Lynch, my work explores the construction of identity. It investigates the ambiguity between beauty and ugliness that contributes to the complexity of self-perception.
X-metic surgery aims to awaken the observer's awareness of what they represent through their mask in this image-obsessed society. This mask is created by the way they "curate" their image on social media, cosmetic surgery, beliefs and other filters that they consciously or unconsciously create.
We Are Plastic People: Bizarre Living Sculptures
By John Staughton
It has become a common theme in my recent explorations of the art world to see how certain artists approach the old adage of life imitating art, or art imitating life. This has manifested in a number of different ways, but when it comes to the unusual and intriguing living sculptures of Marie-Lou Desmeules, the balance of art and life is once again challenged in a unique way. Her work wraps normal people in the shell of celebrity, pop culture, or historical figures as a form of living art. Although at first it looks like a grotesque depiction of recognizable people, and the artistic merit may be questionable, the form is actually a meticulously crafted and philosophically relevant analysis of culture and the way that people in the public eye are perceived by the masses.
Granted, the initial impression of Desmeules' work is typically one of shock and surprise, but the people she is attempting to represent are unmistakeable. Although the contours of their faces or the shape of their bodies seems muddled or distorted, their posture, clothing, facial hair, and a dozen other recognizable attributes are pieced together in our minds through the recollection of thousands of other perfect images that we've experienced, and the subject becomes instantly recognizable. If the same thing was done to a normal person, perhaps even a friend of ours, we might struggle to know who was trying to be depicted, but when it comes to iconic individuals, our brains have an immediate association, and the abstract, jagged forms become clear.
The relationship of modern culture to celebrities is a strange one, and we often begin to see these famous figures as images, rather than individuals. We piece together their careers through famous pictures, like Steve Jobs' classic pose that now dominates the cover of his autobiography, or Pamela Anderson in her unmistakeable red bathing suit. The fact that celebrities are people becomes irrelevant; for the common person, they are mental collages of memory and glamor that resonate for years, even if the suggestive image is twisted or disfigured.
Desmeules plays with ideas of identity, fame, and the strange way that the human mind reveres or recognizes certain things that have no direct impact on their lives, simply because popular opinion has placed so much importance on a certain person. Her work, although sculpturally based, is reminiscent of Warhol's portraits. He took a sterile, unemotional approach, playing with color rather than lighting, setting, or posture, and yet there is no mistaking his classic images of Mao, Queen Elizabeth, or Marilyn Monroe.
The similarities between the Desmeules' Marilyn Monroe sculpture and Warhol's serigraph are eerie, the same painted face, the striking, unnatural colors, and the instantaneous recognition that we have of both images, despite them being poor representations for the actual human form. Warhol was fascinated by the commercial nature of human beings, and how everything was for sale, including the image of an individual. Desmeules follows in those same footsteps, putting the human form on a pedestal of grotesque reality, and daring her viewers not to recognize who she is trying to show.
Her work also speaks to analytic cubism, Picasso's artistic brainchild, which was a movement that suggested forms from reality by disjointing certain parts and testing how the human mind could reassemble recognizable forms from memory and association. It also smacks of Sherwood Anderson's literary obsession with the grotesque, and how people gravitate to the bizarre and unusual, even as they shun people who don't fit in the fold or normalcy. Celebrities are praised for their beauty and perfection, yet that isn't what makes them so desirable or recognizable, as Desmeules' work shows. It is actually the very fact of their fame and prominence that draws us to them; they are as grotesque and outside the realm of normalcy as anyone with a humpback or a facial deformity. Our attraction is just as powerful in the opposite direction.
These sculptures are strange and perhaps disturbing to look at, but when you peel back the layers of your initial shock, you'll find that there is a far deeper conversation going on in the artist's work than slapdash papier mache and glued on facial hair. Desmeules calls her sculptures "surgeries", and that is an apt name for the savage cuts and underlying violence that these sculptures embody. We have already become used to our most beloved characters and celebrities going under the knife to maintain their picture-perfect appearance, and yet we don't allow that artificial manipulation to change our views on their beauty or desirability. These sculptures remind viewers of an image in a shattered mirror, trying to be put back together again, like Humpty Dumpty on a Hollywood scale. Yet, thanks to our communal obsession with fame and the inexplicable workings of our minds, we succeed where the king's men and horses once failed.
Marie-Lou Desmeules has been exhibited all over the world, and her living sculptures continue to draw massive crowds and international attention. She doesn't limit herself to celebrities or recognizable figures, although they do communicate her message in the most powerful way. She creates surgeries of comic book characters, sexual bondage, abstract works, desperate housewives, religious figures, and a variety of other interesting subjects.
She attracts more fans and curious admirers of her work each year, and her consistent exhibitions are a good sign that her message is coming across, and has sufficiently intrigued the art world. Her next show is a live performance installation at the PLAI Music Festival in Romania, and in November of this year, she will be holding an exhibition entitled "Sustratos" at the Museum of Modern Art (IVAM) in Valencia, Spain.
The world shows no sign of slowing down its consumption and obsessions with image and identity, so Desmeules' fascinating musings on this often overlooked aspect of human nature will no doubt continue to enthrall and inspire viewers to look further than skin-deep to find beauty and value in the world.
Granted, the initial impression of Desmeules' work is typically one of shock and surprise, but the people she is attempting to represent are unmistakeable. Although the contours of their faces or the shape of their bodies seems muddled or distorted, their posture, clothing, facial hair, and a dozen other recognizable attributes are pieced together in our minds through the recollection of thousands of other perfect images that we've experienced, and the subject becomes instantly recognizable. If the same thing was done to a normal person, perhaps even a friend of ours, we might struggle to know who was trying to be depicted, but when it comes to iconic individuals, our brains have an immediate association, and the abstract, jagged forms become clear.
The relationship of modern culture to celebrities is a strange one, and we often begin to see these famous figures as images, rather than individuals. We piece together their careers through famous pictures, like Steve Jobs' classic pose that now dominates the cover of his autobiography, or Pamela Anderson in her unmistakeable red bathing suit. The fact that celebrities are people becomes irrelevant; for the common person, they are mental collages of memory and glamor that resonate for years, even if the suggestive image is twisted or disfigured.
Desmeules plays with ideas of identity, fame, and the strange way that the human mind reveres or recognizes certain things that have no direct impact on their lives, simply because popular opinion has placed so much importance on a certain person. Her work, although sculpturally based, is reminiscent of Warhol's portraits. He took a sterile, unemotional approach, playing with color rather than lighting, setting, or posture, and yet there is no mistaking his classic images of Mao, Queen Elizabeth, or Marilyn Monroe.
The similarities between the Desmeules' Marilyn Monroe sculpture and Warhol's serigraph are eerie, the same painted face, the striking, unnatural colors, and the instantaneous recognition that we have of both images, despite them being poor representations for the actual human form. Warhol was fascinated by the commercial nature of human beings, and how everything was for sale, including the image of an individual. Desmeules follows in those same footsteps, putting the human form on a pedestal of grotesque reality, and daring her viewers not to recognize who she is trying to show.
Her work also speaks to analytic cubism, Picasso's artistic brainchild, which was a movement that suggested forms from reality by disjointing certain parts and testing how the human mind could reassemble recognizable forms from memory and association. It also smacks of Sherwood Anderson's literary obsession with the grotesque, and how people gravitate to the bizarre and unusual, even as they shun people who don't fit in the fold or normalcy. Celebrities are praised for their beauty and perfection, yet that isn't what makes them so desirable or recognizable, as Desmeules' work shows. It is actually the very fact of their fame and prominence that draws us to them; they are as grotesque and outside the realm of normalcy as anyone with a humpback or a facial deformity. Our attraction is just as powerful in the opposite direction.
These sculptures are strange and perhaps disturbing to look at, but when you peel back the layers of your initial shock, you'll find that there is a far deeper conversation going on in the artist's work than slapdash papier mache and glued on facial hair. Desmeules calls her sculptures "surgeries", and that is an apt name for the savage cuts and underlying violence that these sculptures embody. We have already become used to our most beloved characters and celebrities going under the knife to maintain their picture-perfect appearance, and yet we don't allow that artificial manipulation to change our views on their beauty or desirability. These sculptures remind viewers of an image in a shattered mirror, trying to be put back together again, like Humpty Dumpty on a Hollywood scale. Yet, thanks to our communal obsession with fame and the inexplicable workings of our minds, we succeed where the king's men and horses once failed.
Marie-Lou Desmeules has been exhibited all over the world, and her living sculptures continue to draw massive crowds and international attention. She doesn't limit herself to celebrities or recognizable figures, although they do communicate her message in the most powerful way. She creates surgeries of comic book characters, sexual bondage, abstract works, desperate housewives, religious figures, and a variety of other interesting subjects.
She attracts more fans and curious admirers of her work each year, and her consistent exhibitions are a good sign that her message is coming across, and has sufficiently intrigued the art world. Her next show is a live performance installation at the PLAI Music Festival in Romania, and in November of this year, she will be holding an exhibition entitled "Sustratos" at the Museum of Modern Art (IVAM) in Valencia, Spain.
The world shows no sign of slowing down its consumption and obsessions with image and identity, so Desmeules' fascinating musings on this often overlooked aspect of human nature will no doubt continue to enthrall and inspire viewers to look further than skin-deep to find beauty and value in the world.
Resume
Born
Quebec, Canada / Lives and works in Barcelona, Spain
Education
BA, Laval University, Quebec, Canada
Awards
2020
Montreal Cultural Development Agreement between the City of Montreal and the Government of Quebec
2017
Photography and new media, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
2000
New media, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
Montreal Cultural Development Agreement between the City of Montreal and the Government of Quebec
2017
Photography and new media, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
2000
New media, Université Laval, Quebec, QC, Canada
Collective & Institute
2022 till today
Co-Founder and Head of Art TID hNFT Research Institute
2020 till today
Co-founder and member of SLACHEURS
2006 till today
Co-founder and member of KATZ & STEVE
Co-Founder and Head of Art TID hNFT Research Institute
2020 till today
Co-founder and member of SLACHEURS
2006 till today
Co-founder and member of KATZ & STEVE
Residencies
2020-2021
EART, Barcelona, Spain
2018
Uma Ari, Valencia, Spain
2017
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
2012
La Maison Bleue, Strasbourg, France
EART, Barcelona, Spain
2018
Uma Ari, Valencia, Spain
2017
Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
2012
La Maison Bleue, Strasbourg, France
Selected Exhibitions, Performances & Art Fairs
2022
Party's Over, Rivalry Projects, New York, USA
2021
RAM, Les Nuits Blanches, Montreal, Canada
2020
I Am Everyone Anyone No One (solo), Barcelona, Spain
Façade, Montreal, Canada
House of Hoarders, Fields Project, NYC, USA
2019
Clone Corrupt (duo), Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
Unshot Film Stills, Donnerstag Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2017
Retouch, Galeria Duża Scena UAP, Poznan, Poland
Cirugías Transepidérmicas (solo), University of Valencia, Valencia, Espagne
Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
2016
Weekend with Bernie, Brooklyn Wayfarers, New York, USA
Berliner Liste Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2015
Live performance, Baraka, Bucarest, Romania
2014
Kim Jestés?, Inspiracje Festival, TRAFO Contemporary House of Art, Szczecin, Poland
Sustratos, IVAM Museum of Modern Art and Illustration, Valence, Spain
2012
I’ve got you under my skin (solo), La Maison Bleue, Strasbourg, France
Affordable Art Fair, Los Angeles, USA
2011
Albano Desmeules Samson, Stüdyo 9 İstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Decay, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2010
Insane-Irrung (solo), Neonchocolate Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Winter Salon, Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Du langage jusqu'à la chair! (solo), Laval University, Quebec, QC, Canada
2009
Fairytales of Berlin, Scion Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Another break in the wall, Wannabe Gallery, Milan, Italy
2008
Fairytales of Berlin, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Marie Lou Desmeules (solo), Unique Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2007
Liste Köln Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
Melancholic Baby (solo), Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Abendsterne, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
2006
Fairytales of Berlin, Kulturhaus Vesterbo, Copenhagen, Danemark
Female signs – Lebewelt und andere Malaisen, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Female signs – Nocturne, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Party's Over, Rivalry Projects, New York, USA
2021
RAM, Les Nuits Blanches, Montreal, Canada
2020
I Am Everyone Anyone No One (solo), Barcelona, Spain
Façade, Montreal, Canada
House of Hoarders, Fields Project, NYC, USA
2019
Clone Corrupt (duo), Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Aspen, CO, USA
Unshot Film Stills, Donnerstag Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2017
Retouch, Galeria Duża Scena UAP, Poznan, Poland
Cirugías Transepidérmicas (solo), University of Valencia, Valencia, Espagne
Hybrid Art Fair, Madrid, Spain
2016
Weekend with Bernie, Brooklyn Wayfarers, New York, USA
Berliner Liste Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2015
Live performance, Baraka, Bucarest, Romania
2014
Kim Jestés?, Inspiracje Festival, TRAFO Contemporary House of Art, Szczecin, Poland
Sustratos, IVAM Museum of Modern Art and Illustration, Valence, Spain
2012
I’ve got you under my skin (solo), La Maison Bleue, Strasbourg, France
Affordable Art Fair, Los Angeles, USA
2011
Albano Desmeules Samson, Stüdyo 9 İstanbul, Istanbul, Turkey
Decay, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, USA
2010
Insane-Irrung (solo), Neonchocolate Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Winter Salon, Micaela Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Du langage jusqu'à la chair! (solo), Laval University, Quebec, QC, Canada
2009
Fairytales of Berlin, Scion Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Another break in the wall, Wannabe Gallery, Milan, Italy
2008
Fairytales of Berlin, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Marie Lou Desmeules (solo), Unique Gallery, Cologne, Germany
2007
Liste Köln Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
Melancholic Baby (solo), Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Abendsterne, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
2006
Fairytales of Berlin, Kulturhaus Vesterbo, Copenhagen, Danemark
Female signs – Lebewelt und andere Malaisen, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Female signs – Nocturne, Janinebeangallery, Berlin, Germany
Screenings & Film festivals
2019
Interfilm 35th edition, The Long Night Of Weird Shorts, Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany
ID:I Galleri, We Are Your Friends, Stockholm, Sweden
Szczecin Film Festival, Poland
Catacumba, 17th edition, Valencia, Spain
Caostica International Short Film Festival, 17th edition, Bilbao, Spain
Quartmetratges, 26th edition, Valencia, Spain
Cinespejo, Festival de Cine de Las Gabias, Granada, Spain
Busho, International Short Film festival, Budapest, Hungary
Filippo Ioco Gallery, Official Gay Pride event, Erotica, Barcelona, Spain
19th International Festival Of Short Films, Valencia, Spain
Official selection, 4th edition Shorty Week Film Festival, Cádiz, Spain
Art Lover Ground Festival, Espronceda, Barcelona, Spain
2018
NOWNESS, official staff selection (WEB)
64th International Short Film Festival of Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
Spring Performance Festival Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland
Normal University of Eastern China, Shanghai, China
MU, Eindhoven, Holland
Hilversum Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, Holland
De School, Amsterdam, Holland
2017
Woman in Alternative Animation, Selections & Selectors 012, New York, USA
2015
Anger & Beyond, Port Actif, OffOff Cinema, Ghent, Belgium
Interfilm 35th edition, The Long Night Of Weird Shorts, Volksbühne, Berlin, Germany
ID:I Galleri, We Are Your Friends, Stockholm, Sweden
Szczecin Film Festival, Poland
Catacumba, 17th edition, Valencia, Spain
Caostica International Short Film Festival, 17th edition, Bilbao, Spain
Quartmetratges, 26th edition, Valencia, Spain
Cinespejo, Festival de Cine de Las Gabias, Granada, Spain
Busho, International Short Film festival, Budapest, Hungary
Filippo Ioco Gallery, Official Gay Pride event, Erotica, Barcelona, Spain
19th International Festival Of Short Films, Valencia, Spain
Official selection, 4th edition Shorty Week Film Festival, Cádiz, Spain
Art Lover Ground Festival, Espronceda, Barcelona, Spain
2018
NOWNESS, official staff selection (WEB)
64th International Short Film Festival of Oberhausen, Oberhausen, Germany
Spring Performance Festival Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Holland
Normal University of Eastern China, Shanghai, China
MU, Eindhoven, Holland
Hilversum Museum, Amsterdam, Holland
Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, Holland
De School, Amsterdam, Holland
2017
Woman in Alternative Animation, Selections & Selectors 012, New York, USA
2015
Anger & Beyond, Port Actif, OffOff Cinema, Ghent, Belgium
Interviews, Press & Publications
SYNÉDOCQUE Marie-Lou Desmeules
EL HYPE Marie-Lou Desmeules: Clones corruptos y máscaras
CHINA DAILY Art depicts leaders with caricatures
OBJECTS X-Metic Surgery, le sculture viventi di Marie Lou Desmeules
CULTURA INQUIETA LAS ESCULTURAS POP VIVIENTES DE MARIE-LOU DESMEULES
INVENTOR SPOT We Are Plastic People: Bizarre Living Sculptures
VICE | THE CREATORS PROJECT This Artist Sculpts Creepy Portraits Using People As...
HUFFINGTON POST While Human Ken Dolls Walk The Earth, This Artist Is Performing...
MILK Papier-Mâché Pop Icons Are Here To Scare You
DANGEROUS MINDS LIVING SCULPTURES’ OF WORLD LEADERS, ARTISTS...
DESIGN BOOM Desmeules turns models into celebrities with paint + plastic surgery
EL MUNDO Celebritats (o no) curioses
EL HYPE Marie-Lou Desmeules: Clones corruptos y máscaras
CHINA DAILY Art depicts leaders with caricatures
OBJECTS X-Metic Surgery, le sculture viventi di Marie Lou Desmeules
CULTURA INQUIETA LAS ESCULTURAS POP VIVIENTES DE MARIE-LOU DESMEULES
INVENTOR SPOT We Are Plastic People: Bizarre Living Sculptures
VICE | THE CREATORS PROJECT This Artist Sculpts Creepy Portraits Using People As...
HUFFINGTON POST While Human Ken Dolls Walk The Earth, This Artist Is Performing...
MILK Papier-Mâché Pop Icons Are Here To Scare You
DANGEROUS MINDS LIVING SCULPTURES’ OF WORLD LEADERS, ARTISTS...
DESIGN BOOM Desmeules turns models into celebrities with paint + plastic surgery
EL MUNDO Celebritats (o no) curioses