Bio:
My name is Evelyn Lewis and I am a gender fluid, Chicago based, multi-disciplinary artist and content creator. I received by BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the spring of 2023. I work in illustration, makeup, and fiber art! I have been making online makeup content since 2020, and continue to grow an online community on Instagram and Tiktok while sharing additional art like fibers and illustration.
Artist Statement:
My work explores fashion and self-creation through multiple mediums like makeup, illustration, and fibers. I investigate wallpaper and textile patterns, fashion and interior design, celebrity influence, pop-culture trends, nostalgia and beauty ideals through a contemporary and historical lens. I approach my subject matter from multiple angles by working in several mediums; therefore, my art-making process is constantly evolving, both in subject matter and medium. Below is a synopsis of my primary mediums:
Makeup/online performance:
My makeup practice is performed exclusively online. Over the course of 3 years, I have grown an online presence on Tiktok and Instagram where I share how I express myself through makeup. My page is dedicated towards videos and photos of elaborate makeup that draws on historical makeup/beauty through an experimental lens and to a modern audience. Sharing makeup online is how I archive my self-creation journey as a gender fluid person, while also generating research about my personal tastes, and other artists who inspire me.
Illustration:
Illustration is how I examine fashion and beauty on other people—not myself. My illustrations sit on a spectrum: narrative on one end to commercial fashion illustration on the other. As my illustration practice has progressed, I’ve found myself working in the middle of that spectrum. My cartoony, surreal style is reinforced through bright color palettes, warped perspective and stylized bodies.
Fiber Art:
My fiber art looks into fashion in tandem with archiving/preservation, domestic spaces, memorabilia, nostalgia and the grotesque. This medium takes the more abstract ideas about my work: my relationship to my home, curating a space I feel connected to and what it means to live in, and create in my home. I expand on those ideas by creating artificial tapestry artifacts. These tapestries come in a variety of forms: some are curtain-like while another is a tablecloth, but they all draw on nostalgia, and a connection to intimate interior spaces.