Anna Lyle

Anna Lyle is an artist and painter from Birmingham, AL. After a professional life as an architectural designer, Lyle exited the architecture industry in her late 20’s to pursue a career in painting and drawing. Anna mines conceptual inspiration on place and purpose in the world outside of experiences and memories in the Southern Baptist Christian religion in which she grew up, and in the years since leaving. Anna has exhibited work coast-to-coast in the United States, with works in private collections in the U.S., Canada, and Germany.

Artist Q&A

Can you explain how you use fabric and anatomy as metaphors in your work?

I had been painting fabric in my portraiture for a while, but in my mind, it didn’t hold any inherent conceptual ground. After I painted Lover, Fighter (2022), I saw something intrinsically interesting in how I depicted the organic nature of the fabric and the overexaggerated veins. The fabric and hands are in conversation with each other. Since this painting, I’ve been finding other ways to depict aspects of the human body alongside fabric to bridge the gap of external and internal body. I use fabric as a visual metaphor for internal anatomy – abdominal wall, intestines, guts, blood, organs, veins, etc.

Which three artists inspire your art and your practice?

Currently, the three contemporary artists that I find inspiring are Elizabeth Glaessner, Sarah Slappey, and Rae Klein.

Anna is featured inside the Winter 2024 Issue of Art Seen, published November. Grab a copy to read the full interview.
Learn more from the artist: www.annalyle.com