Lix North

@lixnorth.com

109 Followers 130 Following

Allegorical surrealist hyperrealist. Obsessive compositional prop-maker. Beautiful Bizarre & Portia Geach Finalist. Proud imperfectionist. She/Her. Ally. Mender of broken things. Gamer. Sci-fi & fantasy nerd. Slow-Fashionista. Bullterrierist. Canary 🐥.

An animated banner showing multiple hyperrealistic images of canaries in steampunk style helmets traversing desolate post-human terrains. These images are from new oil paintings by Lix North showing now in her solo exhibition Aves ex Machina at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne.
Artist Lix North standing in the exhibition space at Beinart Gallery in Melbourne, Australia during her solo exhibition 'Plasma, Privilege and Perfidy' in October 2022. She points to one of her original oil paintings on the wall beside her called 'An Elegant Solution'.
A timelapse video showing the wrist and hand of artist Lix North holding a smaller detailer paintbrush painting intricate details that replicate embroidered flowers on voile lace cuffs attached to the sleeves of a handmade Rococo-esque bodice as part of her painting 'An Elegant Solotion'.
Oil painting of a pale skinned young woman's head, torso and arms. She has pale lavender coloured hair plaited into pigtails that graduate to a vibrant pink at the ends. She wears what looks to be a crude canary symbol made of glass, shell and metal around her neck and a simple black singlet with exposed arms and décolletage. On her head she wears a polished gold helmet, with a thick gold wire cage visor protecting her face, yet leaving it mostly visible, secured by a leather and polished gold strap under her chin. One bright aqua eye is visible, meeting the viewer's gaze. The other is hidden behind a steampunk style monocular fixed to the gold cage visor. She wears a solemn but forthright expression. In the glowing greenish-blue tinged light surrounding her fly two yellow canaries as if coming into land on her helmet and shoulder. On the uplifted index finger of her right hand sits an orange and white mosaic canary.
A woman with seafood green hair in an elaborate rococo-style up-do faces the viewer, head torso and arms visible. On her right shoulder sits a yellow-orange canary with its back turned to the viewer, but head turned toward the woman, who wears an elaborate steampunk-style gas mask in bronze metal and tooled leather and an intricately embroidered bodice of teal velvet with lace cuffs and pearl and satin flowers embellishing the stomacher panel. Around her neck, visible below the gas mask is bow choker in teal satin and pearls. In her left hand she holds a glistening gold saucer with a large, decadently decorated slice of cake iced in colours of vanilla, pale rose pink, peach and deepest cerise. The absurdity of her predicament becomes evident as in her right hand she holds a shiny gold cake fork as if poised to plunder her cake.
Video showing the process of making an ornate steampunk-style gas mask from an a cheap hardware store spray painting respirator. The artists disassembles the original mask, paints areas and adds ornate elements handmade from embossed metal and tooled leather before reassembling into the finished prop. The construction of a brightly coloured lollipop from rolled and twisted polymer clay also features briefly at near the end of the clip.
Video showing the 3d printing of an anatomical looking human heart in pink PLA plastic material, followed by timelapse footage of the artist painting the completed three dimensional heart structure, by hand and using airbrushing techniques, to look pseudo-realistic.
Timelapse video of an artist painting monochrome bird tattoos, on a woman's back, that appear to be coming to life and flying away. As the camera pans down the woman is revealed to be up to her torso in clear green-ish water.
A woman with short violet-white hair has her back turned to the viewer while her head looks up to the left in profile. Greenish-aqua clear water rises up to the bottom of her ribs, about a 5th up the composition. She watches a canary in the air that appears to have come to life from the tattoos beared on her back. The canary holds a string in its mouth connected to a tiny bottle with a tinier message inside. It flys toward the left as if going for assistance. The woman's right hand reaches out to the left steadying the message bottle as the canary begins its flight. The woman's left hand reaches over her right shoulder feeling at the skin on her back where the canary tattoo was once ink. Other canary tattoos cover her back. Near her left shoulder blade another canary appears to be coming to life from another tattoo, with head, chest and one wing appearing three-dimensional as it begins to animate and lift off.
A yellow canary stands on a woody or muddy coloured ground, with a faded greenish-aqua coloured, graffiti covered wall behind it. The canary appears severely top-heavy wearing an elaborate piece of steampunk-esque survival apparatus made of different toned metals, cogs and lenses, the bottom of which resembles a vintage diving helmet, but with a beak-shaped protrusion made of hammered brass. There is steam being visibly expelled from brass pipes at the rear of the helmet. The graffiti on the wall behind appears to be dissident in nature, promoting environmental issues and extinction.
Taking up most of this composition is the head and shoulders of a young, fair-complexioned woman with two brightly coloured braids fading from lavender at her crown to bright pink at the ends. Greenish-aqua tinged clear water has rises approximately 1/4 of the way up the composition, just below her shoulders. She's holding a shiny gold porcelain teacup just above the water's surface. The teacup contains a small melting iceberg with a polar bear perched precariously on what's left of its natural environment. The bear looks up at the woman as if in desperation. Also in the teacup, amidst the sloshing ice-melt, is a teabag with a tag that descends over the side of the cup into the water. Through the relatively clear green-ish water the tag reads 'Famine and Perfidy, soothing blend'. The woman looks down in apprehension at the scene she holds through an ornate steampunk-esque monocular on her left eye.
Two young girls, sisters, dressed in summer clothes of pinks, whites and greys, sit close together. The older of the two wears two plaits and glasses, the younger one has loose brown waves and is raising her hands as if to gesticulate. The older sister appears to be whispering a secret to the other as they both look furtively off to the right. On the far left, on the shoulder of the older sister, close to her ear, sits a native Australian Red-Capped Robin, who appears to have been the originator of the shared secret.
Painting of a woman in profile looking off to the left against a nebulous warm-grey background. She has short violet-white hair, wears a sleeveless lace crop-top and an elaborate steampunk-esque gas mask made of ornately patterned leather and metals. She stares ahead at the colourful lollipop she holds out in front of her with her right hand and on her left shoulder sits a bright yellow canary.
A process video showing the making of a steampunk-esque monocular prop, from various lenses, housings, cogs, ornamental components and an LED light. The video goes on to show the process of a hyperrealistic oil painting that features a woman in profile wearing the finished monocular. The painting is called 'Insurgent' by artist Lix North, created in 2016.
Painting of a woman in profile looking off to the right against a nebulous warm-grey background. She has short violet-white hair, wears a high-necked, sleeveless lace shirt and an elaborate steampunk-esque monocular, on the end of which perches a pale yellow canary.
A Victorian era man, Mr George Fish of Fish Steam Laundry in Brisbane, faces right, wearing an elaborate steampunk-esque monocular, green bowtie and brown tweed suit against a bright primary yellow background.