Alex Muen is synesthetic European conceptual artist, and curator based between Spain and the UK. Her art is a junction of interconnecting layers of emotion, spirituality, materiality, technology and traditional craft.
Traditionally trained in Andalucía and Florence, Alex was called to the material side of oil painting "I loved how oil paint could be applied in transparent or opaque layers, in particular how glazing and colour interacted with light, how a poppy oil glaze could reflect light so strongly you couldn't see the colour it was glazing, hiding the truth under a veil of reflected light."
Moving from oil painting to light based work in [2017/8] was a natural progression, mixing both the craft of oil painting with programable LED lights, and projection .
" I'm obsessed with all the material aspects of light as a primary medium, how it is dynamic, different colours pulling divergent emotions from the same piece. When light is emitted and projected, rather then merely reflected, the viewer has a different interaction with the work, is enveloping, and transporting, its intrinsically participatory, even before the viewer is given control of the piece "
The choice of materials add conceptual layers to the pieces, conveying a tension implicit in the interconnection of technology and nature, which is key in modern life.
Her multi media techniques and materials, range from painting in inks, encaustic wax, oil or acrylic paint,. Tapestry using organic hand woven wool yarn from a Welsh women's cooperative, referencing the historical hidden female artist who worked in embroidery on jute sacking cloth or linen canvas..
In contrast she also uses contemporary technological and industrial materials such as, acrylic panels, clear vinyl, aluminium, copper, insulation materials, motors, bike batteries, projectors, and the key material, the programmable colour changeable LED lights, which also have variable intensity of emmition.
The primary material, the programmable lights, enable the variable personality of the pieces, each further hidden layer adding a level of complexity. The works are mutable, dynamic, each light layer interacting with another, to give a multitude of pieces in one, allowing extreme personalization.
Meaning it possible to create a dynamic synergy, between the art work, the creator, the space and the participant.
Allowing the participant to take control of the art is important to Alex, as participants perception, intellectual, and emotional overlays, add further depth to the pieces ie; they add further personal “ hidden layers” of contextual meaning. The communality aspect in this creation adds continuing strands of substance, allowing the piece its own life, and a further growth potential when it leaves the studio.
Her installations are based around anthropological questions, delving into the psychology of personal relations versus society, what was valued, when and how, what is reviled or worshipped, what is hidden or revealed, rather then exploration of a particular medium.
