SAVING FACE

Canadian artist Lyle Reimer gained fame on everyone’s favorite photo-sharing platform. Now he’s trading the ’gram for the gallery.

By RACHEL GALLAHER

THIS PAGE: Lyle Reimer with his mother at his childhood home in Saskatchewan during the filming of the documentary Random Is My Favourite Colour. A work-in-progress sculpture at Reimer’s Vancouver studio. OPPOSITE: A portrait from the book Lyle XoX: Head of Design (Rizzoli).

“THERE ARE A LOT OF OPPOSING CONCEPTS COLLAGED INTO A SINGLE IMAGE. A LOT OF BEAUTY COMES FROM THOSE CONTRASTS.” Canadian artist Lyle Reimer is reflecting on a recent two-week trip to Israel, but he could just as easily be describing his own work. Reimer, who spent 16 years at MAC Cosmetics in a series of positions ranging from an artist on the sales floor to artist relations, rose to digital fame after he started posting self-portraits to his Instagram, @lylexox.

Far transcending the typical pointand-pose selfie, Reimer’s mesmerizing, tightly framed shots all feature his face embellished with whimsical, avant-garde collages of discarded ephemera, from feathers and beads to plastic piping, chip bags, Scrabble tiles, and golf pencils. His looks range from dark to playful, and each one takes between three and five hours to complete (he creates the sculptural elements in the days leading up to the shoot). The only rule? “Every item I use has to be recycled or repurposed,” Reimer says, acknowledging his mother, “the recycling queen,” as a huge inspiration. Each look is paired with a written description that often includes an invented name and persona, complete with an array of likes, dislikes, hobbies, and potential careers. “I grab a pen and a scrap of paper, sit down with the image, and write anything that comes to mind,” Reimer says. “I usually know that I’ve hit the jackpot when I’m laughing out loud or I suddenly have a huge smile on my face.”

What originally started as a five-day makeup challenge six years ago—his first look was a basic drag face accompanied by a turban, shot in the shower—has blossomed into a thriving creative career. Highlights include work for fashion elite such as Gucci, Viktor&Rolf, and Jeremy Scott, as well as Lyle XoX: Head of Design, a recently released book from Rizzoli (in celebration of the volume, Reimer created two window installations for New York’s Bergdorf Goodman). An hour-long documentary on Reimer titled Random Is My Favourite Colour aired through the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in July. Shot by award-winning director »

THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: A behind-the-scenes shot of Reimer in a Vancouver photography studio during the filming of Random Is My Favourite Colour. The cover of Lyle XoX: Head of Design. OPPOSITE: A self-portrait from the book.

Stuart Gillies with production by Vancouver-based content studio Boldly Creative, each of the film’s four segments is shot in a different location, ranging from Japan to Vancouver (where Reimer’s lived for 20 years) to Saskatchewan, where he grew up and where much of his family still resides. In one heartwarming scene, he returns to his elementary school for a reunion with his kindergarten teacher. “It’s been very surreal,” he says of the ramping-up attention. “I just try to not take anything for granted, because you’re never guaranteed the next thing.”

What is guaranteed for Reimer, who turned 41 in March, is his first exhibition, opening September 7 at Liquidity Winery’s gallery space in Okanagan Falls, at the heart of British Columbia’s wine country. Featuring 25 portraits in a range of sizes, the show, titled Head of Design, will run through October 14. Gleeful mashups of art, fashion, cosmetics, and gender, Reimer’s portraits challenge viewers with highly layered narratives and force them to confront their own notions of what is worthy of being considered art.

If Reimer has a thing or two to say, or to show, it’s that an empty deodorant tube, used in the right context, can be as moving and thought-provoking as finely applied pastels. Of course, taking his portraits offline and into the gallery doesn’t necessarily legitimize them any more than viewing them on a phone screen, but it does open up new angles of approach. The colors, the patterns, the Where’s Waldo? thrill of identifying individual found objects—these portraits practically beg for large-format viewing.

Although Reimer can’t give all the details yet, he’s currently in talks with a gallery in Rome about a potential exhibition next year, and in October, Reimer will head to Mexico City for the two-day Artist Community Hub event, where he will do a book signing and a live, on-stage transformation from mere mortal to fully adorned persona.

His work might be all about the head, but Reimer hasn’t let it go to his own. “At the end of the day, we all get to live one life,” he says. “If you don’t do it right, you don’t get another chance. I just want to live mine knowing that I’ve maximized my potential and done everything I wanted to do.” h