Alexandra Gribaudi
In a series of interviews, we talk to our graduating artists about their practice and process…
“I’ve got into metal this year,” explains Alexandra Gribaudi, a soon-to-be BA Fine Art graduate. Her installation in Degree Show One combines found objects with large metal forms constructed with repeating forms and layers. ‘Metal reflects the things that I’m interested in,’ says Gribaudi, “it can go from one form to the other, it can be hard and then liquid, you can change its colour, it’s affected by the elements so differently. I’ve treated some parts with vinegar, others have been quenched (heating up metal then rapidly cooling it in water) and if you look, you’ll see those different processes and materiality.”
Alexandra Gribaudi
Each sculpture is made from material from her previous work, so the history of her practice is in part embedded in the metal itself. Combining both this sense of time with her recycling approach, the constant cycle of change, points to Gribaudi’s interest in the everyday:
The everyday is such a complex thing to experience, doing an art practice is the same – you have doubts and hesitations. Committing to an art practice has allowed me to have a better understanding of my everyday and by extension the way our society works. I feel that metal is a reflection of that – in materials you can find the same complexity. It changes from one form to another, it’s the same as this morning you were annoyed but now you’re happy – it’s the same kind of movement.
Gribaudi stresses this is not a metaphorical connection between material and idea but in fact a tangible one, that her process feeds not only her understanding of her practice but also life lived beyond the studio.
Alexandra Gribaudi has been nominated for MullenLowe Nova Award