Leda Alexopoulou

Rock-steady: The rock as an archetypal symbol of stability, our bosom buddy, and a timeless witness to history. Over the centuries, the rock has remained inextricably bound with the unique, distinctive morphology of the Greek ground, as well as with the history of this country. The granite rocks in Tinos, the volcanic rocks in Milos, the sacred rock of the Acropolis are just a few of the many different facets of the rock that can be found across space and time.

My work The Rock - Hero is a bronze sculpture in relief, created through the casting of a mold of the side of an actual coastal rock. I chose that particular rock on purpose, because in my eyes it looked like an armoured warrior lying on the ground. For me, the earthly qualities of the rock allude to the human body, to matter and energy, decline and transformation. In an attempt to achieve a three-dimensional depiction - and quest - of what we call "hero" nowadays, the abstract, primitive form of the rock is thus likened with the primeval, mythical, cosmic figure of the hero. I cannot think of something that encapsulates both the glorious and the dark moments of the past in a more powerful manner: from the cave underneath the Acropolis, where Manolis Glezos and Apostolos Santas hid before taking down the Nazi flag, to the numerous popular narratives about how the steep Greek rocks held back the invading foreign armies, the rock occupies sa prominent position in the national imaginary. An unshakable, eternal, tough, but also malleable figure, whose hard exterior gradually wears down due to the lapping of the waves.

Leda Alexopoulou, March 2021

© 2022 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

Land Art Project: Do you want a piece of me?

With my work I am trying to explore the endure and complex relationship between nature and human existence. In my work, I frequently observe and imitate nature and its creative processes in an attempt to come up with answers. To that end, I work both in my studio and outdoors, in a natural environment, where I can derive immediate experience, inspiration and stimuli.

The land art project under the title Do you want a piece of me? started in the summer of 2019 and till today it has evolved into a group of art work in different materials. It is the latest work of the series and examines the interplay of nature, human existence and possession by focusing on rocks. The rock stands for continuity: that piece of our native land, our home, that we cherish in our memories, especially when we are homesick. For people displaced from their homes due to war, poverty or climate change, the idea of (re)creating rock-hard foundations in a distance land is paramount. This idea personally resonates with me, as back in the 1960s part of my mother’s family left Greece for Australia, where they live now. I thought about how capturing the imprint of a rock in one’s birthplace and transposing it on a rock in one’s newly adopted country, one could preserve a piece of home, a piece to remember and possess; ultimately, a self-picture.

Leda Alexopoulou, May 2020

© 2021 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

© 2021 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

Keep walking

2020-1 3d printing / Bronze 17.00 x 13.00 x 11.00 cm

2023 Bronze 148 x 110 x 140 cm, Sculpture by the Sea Bondi 2023

Human beings, at once vulnerable and adaptive, constantly need a roof above their heads; without it they are unable to survive. While in developed countries housing needs have been largely met, humankind’s destructive actions, leading to pollution and climate change, have now endangered humanity’s fundamental and most important home: nature itself.

The work Keep walking, a sculpture with surreal elements, draws on the above concerns as a starting point. A pair of human legs carry a sea shell or sea snail, alluding to humankind’s resilient yet vulnerable nature. However, whereas snails, crabs and turtles are fortunate enough to carry their home with them wherever they go, humans abandon their residences and land when forced to move or immigrate due to poverty, war, natural disaster and the climate crisis.

At the same time, according to Greek tradition, the shell symbolizes adaptability and also stirs the senses and the imagination. Both a timeless symbol of beauty and a functional object, its resilient structure hosts something living, precious and fragile. The shell’s geometric shape, the spiral, stands for growth, continuity and the rhythm of life, i.e. a never-ending process of development.

At once visionary and incisive, Keep walking is ultimately an ironic depiction of humankind’s impossible transformation into a being which, had it possessed the above hybrid features, would have been able to survive and adapt in an unfamiliar, hostile, environment, one that was created by humans in the first place.

“It’s a sobering lesson for a playful work. In Alexopoulou’s creative universe, the joke is on us. Bare legged, swallowed under the crushing weight of its shell, this lone little figure has no option but to clamber forward into the unknown; to keep walking. “ Cristiana Alexakis, The Glass Magazine

© 2023 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

Shell 2017 ceramic 22.50 x 20.50 x 14.00 cm.

A shell with human facial characteristics, a mutated creature, possibly a result of the global warming and its adjustability to a new environment.

© 2021 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

My main inspiration comes from the Greek landscape with the traces of its history and its natural environment both harnessing a unique energy. I work in my studio but quite often I also love to work directly in a natural environment in order to receive an immediate experience. The variety of the materials and processes I use in my work results in all sorts of artistic disciplines such as drawings, paintings, sculpture, ceramics, installations, as well as design objects.

…………………………………………………

My work consists of two and three-dimensional pieces of art. Handmade paper, natural organic material, clay, metal, fabric, weathered found objects etc., all sorts of different material, both conventional and unconventional, are employed in my work. Rhythm, harmony and geometry one can find in nature are required values in the creative process so does the craftsmanship that the fabric requires in order to be shaped, or the clay in order to become a ceramic. All this alongside with the perfect imperfection given by entropy to a weathered found object and the interaction between the natural and the industrial material, belong to the wide range of the processes I use.

© 2021 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.

A piece of Greece, 2020, organic squid ink on cotton, 300 x 300 cm

Locaton: Elounda Crete Greece. Will be exhibited at Sculpture by the Sea Bondi beach Sydney Australia. The exhibition was orignally planned for year 2020 but due to Covid 19 it has been postponed for Autumn 2022.

A piece of Greece is an actual imprint of rocks located in a bay on the island of Crete and will be representeted in the annual exhibition of Sculpture by the Sea Bondi beach (Sydney, Australia, October-November 2022).

The imprint process was a laborious and dangerous affair, as the rocks were rather steep and had to be smeared with a natural, eco-friendly squid ink. I then placed a fabric on top of the rock and brushed it to create the imprint. I have consciously chosen to work with fabric, a flexible material that is easy to carry, pack in a suitcase and travel with. It will be placed over the Tamarama beach rocks. The idea is that the two landscapes, the Cretan and the Australian, can somehow connect with each other, mirroring the interconnections of the numerous people who have relocated to Australia from around the world.

© 2021 Leda Alexopoulou. All rights reserved.