Alexandra Kapogianni-Beth is a Greek art historian and sculptor based in Germany. She started out painting and drawing and turned to sculpting about 20 years ago. Since 1998 she has attended many art and sculpting courses in and out of Germany. In 2020 she completed sculpting studies at Institut für Ausbildung in Bildender Kunst und Kunsttherapie (IBKK) in Bochum, West Germany.
The artist uses a wide range of raw materials to create living and energetic works. “I am a figurative sculptor, focused on turning dead material, as hard rock or soft matter as plaster and clay, into some-thing vivid. Greek history over the millennia offers a wide range of impulses. Heroism beyond human limits and multitudes of mythological actors find their way into my sculptures. The delight I enjoy hope-fully finds its way to the viewer and stimulates their imagination.
FALLING ICARUS is a work with a strong mythical and legendary evocation. Icarus, thanks to the wings attached to his body with wax, manages to escape from the labyrinth of Crete, but getting too close to the sun the wax melted and Icarus fell into the sea. My depiction captures the moment when Icarus falls, with his face turned towards the sun, his right hand stiff as if he had been looking for something to cling to.
Icarus’ face is stretched out, relaxed, his lips closed, but his eyes are wide open, incredulous, resigned, but they also express determination and confidence. In his left hand Icarus holds two feathers, the grip is anything but tight, the open index finger recalls a relaxed grip, as if Icarus was holding back a hope, a dream, a memory.
FALLING ICARUS is meant to evoke numerous emotions and feelings. The observer hopefully feels im-mersed in the history of the subject, feels his aspirations, his dreams, the desire to live every moment to the full. Icarus didn’t just want to fly until he felt the warmth of the sun on his skin, Icarus wanted to live according to his choices, to build his destiny.”