STYLE : LOOKS : Makeup Artist

When Rachel Lachowicz first exhibited her tough-looking minimalist sculptures of graphite, metal and cement, they were often mistaken for the work of a man. That bothered the Los Angeles artist, who, at 28, believes a woman should be able to express strength without giving up her femininity. So she began working in lipstick, face powder, nail polish and foundation (mixed with plaster, glue and other stabilizing elements). And her work took on a new slant.

Lachowicz shapes cosmetics into images culled from art history, architecture, anatomy and fashion to satirize gender definitions, misogyny and vanity. “Red David,” a male torso made of lipstick, is a play on “Blue Venus” by Yves Klein, a French artist who used nude women as “living paintbrushes” on canvas. For “Red Tips,” she dipped men’s underwear and wingtips in lipstick to show men the vulnerability that women feel when they are viewed as sexual objects. Both were cast in burgundy or red lipstick, which Lachowicz buys in bulk from a cosmetics wholesaler.

A San Francisco native and Cal Arts grad, she hesitates to accept the label “feminist artist” because, she says, it means different things to different people: “One man said, ‘Your work isn’t feminist, it’s feminine.’ He was saying my work was beautiful, but he missed the point. To him, feminism meant angry women. Beautiful was feminine; feminist was ugly.”

Collectors get the point. “Her work is lushly beautiful besides having a social and political commentary,” says former software entrepreneur Peter Norton, who, with his wife, Eileen, owns many of Lachowicz’s works. “She plays with materials and ideas, and while the ideas may have barbs, the work isn’t strident.”

Others also respond to her art. Lachowicz has been in shows throughout the country and in Europe; her pieces often sell soon after being exhibited, and at the Shoshana Wayne gallery in Santa Monica, there’s a waiting list for her work.