Meet Max and Louis, the Boyang Twins

Max Boyang and Louis Boyang are 12-year-old twin artists from Okemos, MI. They are known as the Boyang Twins in the art community.

Both of them have won national awards in adult competitions and exhibitions. Their artworks have been exhibited in fine art galleries across the country. Their story was featured on national, international TV, newspapers and magazine.

Max and Louis always loved drawing since they were little. However, from a family of three generations of scientists and engineers, their interest in art was never taken seriously.

In March, 2015, they were discovered by artist Vivian Dwyer at the age of 9. Mrs. Dwyer remembers getting chills when she saw the boys drawing and had never seen any 9-year-old draw the way Max and Louis do.

Unlike most kids at their age, Max and Louis are not interested in copying other’s work. They love creating their own original artworks. And their styles are completely different.

Max loves nature. Insects are his most favorite subject. The main media he uses is crow quill pen and ink. Watercolor and metal leaves are also used. Max’s abstract style insect artwork is largely based on his imagination. He observes the shapes of real life insects, pencils them on the paper. He then uses his imagination for the design of the insects and the background.

Louis’s style on the other hand, is more specific. He loves doing watercolor flower painting, pen and ink, or graphite flower drawing.  Louis has amazing memory when comes to flowers. A lot of his work is completely out of his own imagination. He will look at the flowers either in person or online, and then start his own interpretation. He loves changing things as he goes, even when he is working in front of real flowers.

In October, 2016, Louis’s “Mother’s Day” won Juror Award in national adult competition “94th Annual All-Media” hosted by Ann Arbor Art Center in Ann Arbor, Mich. Louis was the only child among all the exhibiting artists.

In March, 2017, Max’s “Now You See Me III” won Juror Award in national adult competition “Flight” hosted by Tubac Center of Arts in Tubac, Arizona. Max was the only child among all the exhibiting artists. Max also won “Honorable mention Award” in national “Shock of The New West” exhibition in April, 2018.

The twins have had three solo exhibitions since they started doing art three years ago. They taught both adults and children’s art classes in Seattle, WA and Lansing, MI. The boys have donated thousands of dollars from the sales of their artwork to charities in the past three years.

Max and Louis’s story was featured in The Lansing State Journal, Seattle King 5 TV, WLNS-TV, Greater Lansing Business Monthly, and HOMTV. Their story has also been featured on Swedish Expressen, one of two nationwide evening tabloid newspapers in Sweden.

In May 2017, four times Emmy Award winner Kirk Montgomery did a special report “Twin Artists Turning Heads” on the boys. It was aired on WILX-10 on May 17, 2017.

Opening Reception

Join us at the Arts Council for an opening reception on July 13, 2018 as part of Arts Night Out in Old Town. The event begins at 5 p.m. and runs until 8 p.m. Come view the selected works of these talented young artists and talk to them about their art. Light refreshments will be served. To learn more, visit their website at www.boyantwins.com

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