About
Lucie Van der Elst (b. 1987, Paris France, she/her/hers) is a multidisciplinary artist, miniaturist and illustrator. She studied applied arts and product design in Estienne and École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, where she graduated in 2010. A post-graduation solo backpacking trip through the United States ended up changing her life in unexpected ways. She moved to Chicago in 2016 and has called the city her home ever since.
Since November of 2021 she is part of Itty Bitty Mini (m)art, a studio of multi-faceted miniaturists with a serious sense of humor .
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Lucie’s art practice involves paper cutting, digital art and making miniatures. But drawing has been her main visual language for decades.
Through repetition of organic motifs, she patiently builds universes of ambiguous scale. Are they monumental or microscopic? It is often up to the viewer to decide.
Rarely does the human form take center stage in these landscapes. It’s suggested that they might have been here - perhaps recently, or thousands of years ago. Either way, they are neither the dominant life-form nor the primary subject. Instead, the attention falls upon the environment. Look closely: it’s calm, but the landscape feels sentient.
While some works touch on heavy subjects like grief in the face of environmental catastrophe, other works celebrate life and connection. The driving forces here are compassion, curiosity and care for that what is seen as “other”, transforming the Freudian concept of “disturbing strangeness” (inquiétante étrangeté) into a feeling of wonder, Comforting yet otherworldly.
Education
/ ENSAD (National School of Decorative Art) - Major in Product Design, Paris, 2010
/ Erasmus program at the DenmarksDesignSkole (glass blowing and ceramics), Copenhagen, 2009
/ École Estienne, Paris, 2005
Shows and Installations
March 2025 / Collective Narratives / group show / Zhou B Art Center / Chicago, IL, USA
March 2025 / Synthesize / group show / Madron Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
Sept 2024 / L’Inverosimile-duo show with Carine Masutti / Inside Town Art Collective / Chicago, IL, USA
April 2024 / 12th Annual Juried Competition / Bridgeport Art Center / Chicago, IL, USA
Nov 2023 / Alma V / Alma Art and Interiors / Chicago, IL, USA
May 2023 / 11th Annual Juried Competition / Bridgeport Art Center / Chicago, IL, USA
May 2023 / Hell No! / group show / official program for Art Spring Berlin / Gallery Arnarson & Sehmer / Berlin, Germany
March 2023 / Blood Sweat & Tears/ group show / Grace Jane Projects / Chicago, IL, USA
Feb 2023 / Portals / group show / Mind’s Eye Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
Jan 2023 / Final Girls /Atelier rue Lesage / Paris, France
Nov 2022 - Apr 2023 / Free and Open / group show / Chicago Design Museum / Chicago, IL, USA
April 2022 / Extraordinary Times of Sorrow and Hope / group show / Mind’s Eye Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
March 2022 / Typeforce 12 / group show / Co-Prosperity Sphere / Chicago, IL, USA
Feb. 2021 / The Color Red / group show / Fulton Street Collective Gallery / Chicago, IL, USA
Jan 2021 / Group Show /Grace Jane Projects / Chicago, IL, USA
July 2020 / Bird, Nest, Nature / group show / Bedford Gallery / Walnut Creek, CA, USA
Oct 2019 / The Living Dead Art Show / group show / Space Oddities / Chicago, IL, USA
Sep 2017 / PEAK, multi-media installation / Gogolfest / Kyiv, Ukraine
Dec 2016 / Soular System /group show curated by Dulce Maria Diaz / Gallery Thirty Five / Chicago, IL, USA
Nov 2016 / In-Between Panels / group show / CHI PRC / Chicago, IL, USA
Sep 2016 / Drawing in Progress / group show / le 100 ecs / Paris, France
Apr 2016 / Nuages / solo installation / centre social CAF Tanger (curated by Fanatikart) / Paris, France
March 2016 / [SIC]#3 "Grosse Éclate", group show and launch party / Les Grands Voisins / Paris, France
Sep 2015 / Décharge – dessin évolutif en trois volets / galerie À Côté / Paris, France
Apr 2015 / Bonhommes / Café L’Olive / Paris, France
Dec 2015 / Combien j’ai de Droits? duo art show with Colinepointg / Centre des Amandiers / Paris, France
Jan 2015 / Trendspace Breaking the rules / Playtime Paris - the children and maternity tradeshow / Paris, France
Oct 2014 / magazine [SIC]#2 "monde rural du rétro-futur" / in Paris and St-Jean Brévelay, France
May 2014 /“Ouishapes” photobooth with Jenni Ottilie Keppler/ OuiShare Fest / Paris, France
Oct 2013 / [SIC] magazine launch party and group show / Chez les Artistes / Paris, France
Sep 2013 / Window Display "Saint Germain"/ La Hune bookstore / Paris, France
July 2013 / Adieu Veaux Vaches / solo show /Les Idiots / Paris, France
Nov 2012 / In Other Worlds / group show / Holland Gallery / Reno, NV, USA
Apr 2012 / V.R.A.C / group show / l’Ecurie, / St Jean Brévelay, France
March 2012 / L’Envers et L’Endroit / group show / Retrospective ENSAD / Le 104 / Paris, France
June 2011 / Friendly parasites / duo show with Rozenn LG / Cailles de Luxe / Paris, France
Publications
Spring 2025 / TBA
May 2022 / Escape Artist, self-published and distributed by Zine-a-Month
2021 / Nkemdiche, Why We Do not grow Beards, an Igbo folktale - written by Obiora Nwazota, published by Okpara House
2021 / Humana Obscura, spring/summer issue
July 2020 / Journal Errratum- Building zone
May 2020 / Isolation! Stories for shut-ins for non essential - a comics anthology by Kevin Budnik and Alex Nall
Winter 2019 / Positively Moomin, a comics anthology / edited by Liz Yerby/ Sound Grounds Wreckin’ Crew / Portland OR
Dec 2019 / Lucie’s High anxiety coloring book - self published
Nov 2018 / QUERTIE - comics reading for Prism Putty
2018 / French liquid - an anthology of french indie illustrators and artists (editor) - self-published
2018 / A field guide to domestic insects - first edition - self-published
2016 / Human Broth, observations in the subway - self-published comic
2015 / SIC#3 - Grosse Éclate, an illustration, essays and poem anthology - published by Editions EnScred
2014 / SIC#2- Monde rural du Rétro-futur- published by Editions EnScred
2013 / SIC#1 - Chronique du livre Malade- published by Editions EnScred