
Lyle XOX
Lyle XOX
Our consumerist culture is filled with superfluous objects, many of which are passed the point of use. For Lyle XOX, these discarded objects are more than their materials—they are filled with artistic possibility. The Vancouver-based artist has developed a practice that combines his experience in art, fashion, design and make-up artistry to create striking images using his own body as canvas and plinth. Surrounding himself with found objects, Lyle XOX creates facial sculptures and adornments to design fictional characters that defy gender, cultural and beauty norms. Each photographed portrait is a study in contrast and fantasy, with humour and irony woven throughout.
The work of Lyle XOX immediately resonates in our social media-soaked society, which prioritizes the connection between images of one’s face with social identity. His photographs challenge notions of masculinity and femininity, embracing a spirit of duality and joie de vive. At the same time, the bold gaze of his characters directly confronts viewers with objects relating to their own carbon footprint—the detritus of capitalism. Through a surrealist lens, the objects and their inherent histories provoke thought around the relationship between mundane things, high fashion and consumerism.
After growing up in a small town of less than 200 people in rural Saskatchewan, Lyle relocated to Vancouver BC, attended Blanche MacDonald Centre for Applied Design, and worked for MAC Cosmetics for over fifteen years. Once Lyle decided to focus solely on his artistic practice, his career skyrocketed. In 2019, he was named as one of the Vogue World 100 (the top 100 people selected by Vogue Magazine for pushing boundaries of art, beauty and style, released his book Lyle XOX: Head of Design published by Rizzolo in New York, and was hosted by both the Dutch fashion house Viktor&Rolf and Cirque du Soleil to witness his process. CBC produced a full-length documentary Random is my Favourite Colour released in July, and three months later his book won an award for photography. Lyle’s Instagram following increased 300%, and nears 150K.
2020 has begun with Lyle XOX featured in an eight-page spread of the March Issue of the international V Magazine. In addition, Lyle collaborated with renowned musician and performer FKA Twigs, is covered in the Spring issue of Montecristo Magazine, and is working on a campaign with the prestigious South Korean eyewear brand, Gentle Monster.
Recent Artwork
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Artist Website: https://www.rizzoliusa.com/book/…
LYLE XOX: HEAD OF DESIGN
By Lyle Reimer
Foreword by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren
Designed by Fabien Baron
Hardcover / 9.33” x 12.75” / 144 pages / 125 color photographs
$50.00 U.S. / ISBN: 978-0-8478-6377-8 / Rizzoli New York / Release date: April 2019
Makeup and mixed media artist Lyle Reimer creates wildly inventive self-portraits by embellishing his own face in elaborate collages that bring a new otherworldly persona to life each day in front of the camera. In LYLE XOX: HEAD OF DESIGN Reimer has gathered together a collection of his favorite portraits in a debut book designed by the renowned art director Fabien Baron.
Always pushing the boundaries of beauty, Reimer explores a multiplicity of characters à la Cindy Sherman, combined with the subversive edge of performance artist Leigh Bowery, and each portrait in the book is accompanied by witty and cryptic mini-backstories for each character, written in Reimer’s own hand.
Reimer’s love of makeup, fashion, creation, and storytelling is evident in his Instagram posts—avidly followed by over 150,000 fans of his fantastic characters. His inspiration comes from the most quotidian found and recycled objects—from feathers, bungee cords, espresso pods, detergent jugs, bleached turkey bones, and lace, to toy soldiers, burnt matchsticks, and deconstructed designer shopping bags—to create complex and ephemeral mixed-media art based on the planes and structure of his own physiognomy.
A one-of-a-kind body of work, LYLE XOX: HEAD OF DESIGN celebrates the ever-changing nature of a creative individual’s self-expression. As Reimer himself states, “Every day is an exercise in experimental play which follows the creative urge to push my own personal view of beauty.” At the very least, the reader will never again look at the kitchen junk drawer and the recycling bin the same way.
About the Author: Vancouver-based Canadian makeup and mixed media artist Lyle Reimer has collaborated with design houses including Gucci and Moschino, and brands like Pepsi, and he travels around the world giving talks and workshops inspiring others to live and work with no creative limits. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Vogue Italia, Surface, and GQ China, TUSH, I-d . Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren are the founding Dutch design duo of the avant-garde luxury fashion house Viktor & Rolf.
Credit for the book must read: LYLE XOX: HEAD OF DESIGN by Lyle Reimer © Rizzoli New York, 2019. No images may be used, in print or electronically, without written consent from the publisher and are to be credited on a case-by-case basis. For information, please contact Pam Sommers at (212) 387-3465 or [email protected]
LYLE XOX: HEAD OF DESIGN
By Lyle Reimer
Foreword by Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren
Designed by Fabien Baron
Hardcover / 9.33” x 12.75” / 144 pages / 125 color photographs
$50.00 U.S. /$67.50 Canadian / £35.00 U.K.
ISBN: 978-0-8478-6377-8 / Rizzoli New York / Release date: April 2019

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