{"id":33789,"date":"2019-08-07T11:23:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artzealous.com\/?p=33789"},"modified":"2019-08-07T11:23:36","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:23:36","slug":"meet-the-swiss-artist-celebrating-stone-and-femininity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artzealous.com\/meet-the-swiss-artist-celebrating-stone-and-femininity\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Swiss Artist Celebrating Stone and Femininity"},"content":{"rendered":"
Meet Alexia Weill<\/a>, a talented Franco-Swiss artist whose large-scale sculptural installation\u00a0La Vague<\/i>\u00a0was recently planted in the middle of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Weill’s work explores women’s empowerment, geometry, and nature. A recent addition to the Uncommon Beauty Gallery<\/a> artist roster in New York, Weill’s work will be featured during Art Basel Miami Beach at Aqua Art Miami this coming\u00a0December.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We caught up with Alexia to discuss her recent success and upcoming projects!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Drink of choice?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW:<\/strong> In Switzerland we have a very specific beverage called \u2018Rivella\u2019 made of pure milk with caramelized sugar. It\u2019s delicious.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: What is the one thing you’d never leave home without?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: Honestly, nothing at all. I am not attached to objects, but to people. If really had to choose something, it would be my phone. Only to be connected to my family and the people I love at any time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Where are you currently based?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: I am based in Switzerland near the city of Montreux on Lake Geneva, where my latest sculpture, <\/span>La Vague, <\/span><\/i>is now on display.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Instagram handle?<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>:\u00a0<\/span>@weillalexia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Does Instagram and social media play a role in your life as an artist?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: Yes, I feel that to show and share my work on Instagram is very important. I enjoy sharing pictures of the studio, the workshop and my whole creative process with my audience on Instagram. To create in solitude and then be able to share that process with the public on social media is fantastic. It\u2019s an amazing tool for artists to engage with an international audience and promote their own work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: Have you always thought of yourself as an artist? How and why did you first start creating?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: I have always had an artist\u2019s soul. I grew up in an artistic environment. My grandfather was a painter, my grandmother was an actress, and my mother was a gallerist, so for me, being an artist was a natural choice. As a child, I did a lot of drawings. I then moved to creating clay sculptures because I felt I needed to create with my hands, to materialize the characters in my drawings. The characters were often female, goddesses and other symbols of femininity. The stone carving came last and is the medium I\u2019m working with now. <\/span>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: We hear you are a staunch support of women’s rights and the power of the feminine spirit. We love that. How does working from a feminist mindset and belief system influence your work?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: Many of my sculptures and performances are inspired by and symbolic of femininity, the ultimate spirit of creation. I am also a bit of an activist, for the past five years, I have participated in \u2018Equal Pay Day\u2019 here in Switzerland to raise awareness about the unfair pay gap between men and women.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n AZ: We understand you prefer to place and practice your art\u00a0within natural environments such as the Swiss Glaciers and the Dubai desert. What is it about nature that inspires and informs your work? \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: I try to harmonize with nature and let myself be inspired by it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In Dubai, my live creation work in the desert was truly magical. The desert is a powerful place. Touching the sand, feeling the wind in my hair, watching the brilliant setting of the sun, I was inspired to create a large 10-meter mixed media artwork. On the massive canvas, I used different pigments, charcoal, and felt. I drew with my whole hands in any way that felt organic and natural. The filming of this project gave birth to <\/span>DNA of the Desert<\/span><\/a>, which is available via YouTube.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As for the glacier in Switzerland, I took inspiration from the breathtaking mountains and the amazing view of the glacier at 3,000 meters above sea level. For this upcoming commissioned piece, I have decided to create a granite sculpture that will serve as an emotional transcript of nature\u2019s power, the goal of which is to put humans in their proper place, to respect nature and its ultimate power.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n AZ: What is it about working with stone that is so appealing to you? \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n AW<\/strong>: Stones are alive; each one has its own personality. For me, stone represents the DNA of our planet. To know where a stone comes from, what exact quarry it was pulled from, this is to know its identity, its personal history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When working with large scale stone sculptures, I sometimes spend days just harmonizing with it. It is like getting to know someone. The carving itself is like a journey, the stone will continue to inspire me along the way. I just give it another form to reveal its own beauty.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n