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Lina Condes is a contemporary American artist with Ukranian heritage known for her stick figure sculptures . She grew up in a family of professors of physics and math , which is what fuelled her understanding of industrial material for her future sculptures from an early age . Late on , Lina got her MFA in Fine Arts , in Interior and Furniture Design .
Lina ’ s work is conceptually positioned on a heavy-light , high-low axis . The sculptures are created using common industrial stainless steel , fiberglass , wood and stone , through which she seeks to authentically represent the emotional and range of mental states of modern people . Condes focuses on these ‘ mental states ’ and different emotions and psychological conditions that she attempts to represent by blending materials , shape and colour . In a way , she works with metal and wood as if they were bronze and marble .
Lina is planning a number of exhibitions on the Côte d ’ Azur this spring and summer . Today we had the opportunity to chat with her …
HelloMonaco : Lina , when did you feel you wanted to be an artist ?
Lina at her studio
Lina Condes : I made my first sketches when I was 3 and 4 years old . There has always been a creative atmosphere in my parents ’ house . My mother and I loved to draw sketches and sew dresses together for me . The eclectic Rococo interior in our house developed abstract thinking in me . I loved to spend hours looking at the painted ceilings in every room and analysing every curve . I remember when I was little we had this random magazine with a Picasso painting inside and I was staring at it for weeks and analyzing what the artist wanted to say .
I realized my life mission during my school years when I won competitions for the best poster on various social and environmental topics ! When I was 12 years old , I first saw another world , the world of art . We visited Budapest , where there is the largest collection of works of foreign art in Hungary — the Hungarian National Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest . This made me want to paint and study art history .
During summer practice I was always singled out and set as an example for the best sketching . Indeed , I learn all of the computer programs I am working within nowadays , and I am grateful for all the sleepless nights when I was repetitively sketching the skeleton of the human body , as well as the knowledge that I am using today to create my sculptures . This all helped create the ability to fully visualize the 3D sculpture inside of my head before I can put it on paper or in a program . The most important thing they taught me was that I am the creator of my own environment and nothing is impossible .
© Lina Condes
: A lot of your work can be described as being abstract , emotional , and powerful .
Hello Monaco Spring 2022 / 115 www . hellomonaco . com