Lix North’s work is an intoxicating, heady mix of eccentricity and metaphor. “I love the interplay between contemplative space and ornate detail, the juxtaposition of the commonplace with the wonderfully strange,” says Lix North of her work.
Lix spent her childhood in the lush green landscape of New Zealand’s hill country. While most kids are perplexed when adults ask what they want to be when they grow up, Lix says she always knew. “I have been an artist for as long as I can remember,” she shares. “I never had any other ambitions in life. It is a part of who I am.” She’s worked as a photographer, illustrator and artist since arriving in Brisbane in 2007. “Each work, each incarnation of self, explores my journey in a genetically compromised body through an increasingly toxic world,” says Lix
The process of making a piece of art is almost cathartic for this creative. It begins with vivid imagery that gains clarity as it bubbles up to the surface of her consciousness. Each element is deeply etched in Lix’s psyche and fine-tuned until it is purged onto canvas.
“The painting part of it is when I can really relax. I have gone through that very turbulent time of strategy and preparation and now my mind can just let go and follow the plan,” she says.
Props like goggles, animals and birds, headdresses and skulls are integral to her work. All have deep meaning. The goggles, for example, metaphorically represent viewing the world through a different lens. The canary, says Lix, has always been her totem. “Since I was a teenager, I’ve struggled with an autoimmune condition. My doctor said it’s made me very sensitive to all things. I’m like a canary in a mine shaft,” she reveals.
Lix’s work touches on photorealism, a type of art that emerged in the 1960s. It’s characterised with painstaking detail and precision. The intricate detailing on a single large piece of art can take Lix up to 400 hours to paint. At first glance, many of those who view her work might think it’s a photograph, such
is the level of detailed finesse in each brush stroke. “When somebody knows it is done by hand, the fascination goes off the chart and that helps make my concepts more accessible and engaging,” she says.
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Article Featured in Grand Designs Australia Magazine 10.2