By Noma Faingold (August 14, 2026)
Mill Valley painter Christiane Lyons has dedicated the last 10 years to her series, which she somewhat facetiously calls, “Some Women: A Total Portrait With No Omissions.” The oil paintings are collage-like, yet more refined. There’s also a double or triple-exposure effect in the depiction of the women. The work is figurative, abstract and surreal. It’s easy to be drawn to the colorful, layered pieces. There’s a soft beauty to them. But a closer, more pensive examination reveals an indictment on the objectification of women in history and in current times.
Lyon’s creative process starts with collecting photographic images of women online. Her searches use key words, like “Olympia” and she sees what pops up. She gathers photos of women which reflect female objectification. “I want to free them of dehumanization and bring them back to life in my work. It’s an attempt to break this cycle,” she said. “That is really important because then I feel I’m working from images that we as a society have chosen to represent women.”
“Marlene: Arrangement in Mars Black and Rosewood,” 2018; Oil on polyester. © The Artist & Meliksetian | Briggs, 2018.
Lyon, 48, manipulates the selected images digitally into collages or what she refers to as maquettes (small-scale, rough drafts, which give her room to experiment with concepts and proportions). Then she paints on canvas.
In 2022, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) acquired one of Lyon’s paintings (as part of a collection of 42 artworks by 30 emerging and mid-career Bay Area contemporary artists) from a $1 million gift by the Svane Family Foundation. The third iteration of the showcase is titled, “Superficial Matters,” which opens on August 15 at the de Young Museum. The exhibition features eight artists of various disciples (sculpture, textiles, photography), who thematically confront the split between substance and appearance, examining how it has shaped and repressed representations of woman.
“For me it’s a great title because I like titles that have double meanings. It could just mean superficial matters – the objects you’re looking at. Also, it’s superficial matters in the sense of our culture of superficiality,” Lyons said. “The exhibition focuses on womanhood and how women each interpret being a woman differently through the medium that they choose.”
“Leonora: Arrangement in Radiant Magenta and Cadmium Red Light.” 2021. Oil on canvas. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, museum purchase, a gift from The Svane Family Foundation, 2022.26.11. © Christiane Lyons. (Photograph by Randy Dodson)
Lyons’ 2021 piece is titled, “Leonora: Arrangement in Radiant Magenta and Cadmium Red Light.” In the composition of “Leonora,” two women are pictured in a superimposed way. One is wearing a kimono and the other is in a magenta dress. The background is soothing with its rich floral bouquets and pale blue sky, as seen through windows. The setting has a watercolor tint. “Those two women are vertically stacked and they are intertwined. Those figures work together,” Lyons said.
All the works from her “Some Women” series are named after an artist Lyons admires, in this case British/Mexican surrealist Leonora Carrington (1917-2011).
Leonora Carrington’s “Bedtime Stories”
Each “Some Women” title also highlights the more prominent colors used in each piece.
“For an artist, who has grown up here, to be collected by the Fine Arts Museums is a huge deal. Any artist who is collected by the museum where they live, it makes a big difference,” Lyons said. Her early connection with the de Young was when, at 13, she took art classes at the museum.
She grew up in Mill Valley and returned to the quaint Marin town after earning an MFA in painting/drawing at UCLA, followed by living in Los Angeles for 11 additional years. Lyons completed her undergrad degree in Art Practice from UC Berkeley, Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa.
For the last 15 years, she has worked out of her Sausalito studio located in a converted art collective, which was once the Liberty shipbuilding hub during World War II.
Christiane Lyons in her studio. (Photo Courtesy of the artist)
Lyons has been represented by Los Angeles gallery Meliksetian/Briggs (Anna Meliksetian and Michael Briggs) since 2012. Her interest in art history carries over into her work. She is particularly inspired by the period from late 19th to the early 20th centuries, with regard to European artists, such as Ėdouard Manet and Henri Matisse.
Other influences include professor at UCLA and mentor, the late John Baldessari (1931-2020), along with living artists Elizabeth Peyton, who she worked with and Marlene Dumas.
“Yayoi: Arrangement in Yellow Lake and Vermillon Clair” 2021. Oil on paper. © Christiane Lyons. Photo courtesy of Los Angeles gallery Meliksetian/Briggs.
Lyons paid homage to prolific Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama with the painting, “Yayoi: Arrangement in Yellow Lake and Vermillon Clair,” which was bought in 2022 by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas, in conjunction with the group exhibition, “Women Painting Women.” The work is centered on three women displayed in layers, with the front body covered in a black-and-white avant garde striped dress. And yes, there are noticeable circus-like dots (a Kusama signature) in the background in various saturated colors.
“There’s a lot going on in my work,” Lyons said.
Video tour of Christiane Lyons’ “Some Women: A Total Portrait With No Omissions.”
“Superficial Matters: Artists from the Svane Gift and Beyond,” August 15, 2026-May 8, 2028, at the de Young Museum (50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Dr.), is made possible by a 2021 $1 million endowment from the Svane Family Foundation. The exhibition, featuring the work of eight Bay Area artists, is the third iteration of the local showcase.
For more information about the entire exhibit go here.
To follow her on Instagram: @christianelyons
Noma Faingold is a writer and photographer who lives in Noe Valley. A native San Franciscan who grew up in the Sunset District, Faingold is a frequent contributor to the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers, among others. She is obsessed with pop culture and the arts, especially film, theater and fashion. Noma has written about poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, artists Tamara de Łempicka, Isaac Julien, and Wayne Thiebaud, numerous independent filmmakers, and singer/songwriters Janis Joplin, Diane Warren, and Linda Smith for EatDrinkFilms.