Artist Rory Gevis invites us into her brilliant universe, where art is sacred, aging is exquisite, work is creative, and gorillas named Flora wear gowns.
Rory Gevis’ imagination holds as much fuel as a young girl’s. The 67-year-old artist transforms her vision into reality from her sunny Manhattan studio. Grand, colorful floral oil paintings and portraits of pets and people stagger along its walls like a lifesize mood board. Each piece is a window into her world. Each piece tells a story. “It’s very narrative to me,” she said.
Painting has been Gevis’ mode of expression since she taught herself the skill as a shy girl in Queens. “My world was a little cuckoo,” said Gevis. Kids made fun of her because she looked different. “Art was always something that I found sanctuary with, and that let me find peace.”
Upon seeing her ordinary high school’s sorry art room, Gevis decided to take art seriously and enroll in art school, which proved to be “kind of amazing.”
She learned traditional illustration but did not follow the rules of art—and she still does not. Instead, she enlists her own style. “People like it or they don’t like it. But it’s who I am–who I’ve always been. It’s a little off. A little weird,” she said.
Her paintings evoke a distinct feeling. She receives it as an honor when people tell her that her work sparks joy –and they often do. “I do like to make people happy. I like to make things pretty, but I still want to tell a story.”
Portraits of dolled-up ladies she calls “My Women” embody this uncanny beauty. The women are alluring, but you can’t quite touch them. Her most recent Woman wears a blue ornate gown and sits on a chaise in a portrait called “Rhapsody.” The subject gazes at the viewer, but her expression is mystifying. Gevis’ women are detached. Something protects them from us. “I think I relate to that,” she said.
“Rhapsody” by Rory Gevis.
Gevis corrects herself: “Not that I relate to that–I am that.” The pieces are self-portraits. Bits of the Women’s appearance mirror Gevis’ own, but all her works are self-portraits in a way. Even in her flowers, “there’s part of me that comes out in it,” she said. That’s why her work is interesting. There’s something special to it, and it’s her.
Gevis imagination runs through everything she does, even her full-time job as the executive director of creative innovation at MAC Cosmetics. Her creative process works equally well in the office and the studio. Visuals, packaging, and events all require imagination. “You create worlds,” she said.
Recently, Gevis began incorporating AI into her world-building process. Portrait subjects do not need to sit for days or pose for photographs. The AI program Midjourney brings her imagination’s uncanny subjects to life without needing a real-life subject to sit for hours or pose for a photograph. This is how her couture-wearing gorillas with names like “Eloise” developed, subjects of a print series she calls “Ladies Who Lunch.”
The funny gorillas should comfort the AI-afraid. To create art of any medium, you “have to have the eye,” she said. Comparing the AI medium to gardening, she said, “You put the little seeds in little by little. You just keep adding some love and water. And then you get these blooms.”
“Manon” by Rory Gevis.
Clothing is another expressive medium for the artist. Ari Seth Cohen photographed Gevis with her inseparable poodle Elsa for Advanced Style, solidifying her internet style icon status. Gevis is a veteran in the fashion world, though. She has served as an editor, makeup artist, and everything in between for fashion magazines like W magazine and American Harpers Bazaar.
“I put things together in a funny way, but it’s just who I am. Getting dressed in the morning is no serious matter. If it just makes you feel good, that’s great. If it makes other people feel good, too, that’s really nice.”
Despite being the most well-dressed woman in Manhattan, Gevis is not a fashion person. “I put things together in a funny way, but it’s just who I am,” she said. Getting dressed in the morning is no serious matter. “If it just makes you feel good, that’s great. If it makes other people feel good, too, that’s really nice.”
The artist is the epitome of timeless beauty. Everybody wants to know Gevis’ secret to aging gracefully. But the secret is not as much in physical upkeep as in philosophy. Age has been beautiful to her since she was young and was “mesmerized” by a particular old woman’s beauty on a family vacation. “I love that she looked radiant, but she had wrinkles. She was a strong woman. I just responded to that, and I think that’s who I always respond to,” she remembers.
“I love that she looked radiant, but she had wrinkles. She was a strong woman. I just responded to that, and I think that’s who I always respond to.”
Looks may change, but essence doesn’t have to. Every wrinkle is a story, a life worth living. “You’ll never age if you’re timeless,” she said.
Homepage images, “Babe” left, and “Eloise” right from “Ladies Who Lunch” series. Rory Gevis in her studio. Inside image above, Gevis in her studio and “Peek.”
