Meike Legler was born in 1983 in Alzenau, Germany and is moving to Vienna soon after stations in LA and Germany. She studied fashion design and enjoys working creatively. "Being an artist is in many ways the ultimate freedom that I never want to give up."
How did you get into art?
It really happened very randomly. Even though I've been dating an artist for many years and was confronted with art all the time it hasn't occurred to me I could be one myself for a long time and when we moved from Berlin to LA I had no idea what kind of job or career I wanted to pursue, things changed. I am a trained fashion designer and always have been liking to sew so one day I decided to try making a "painting" out of fabrics and it brought me a lot of joy and sparked my interest. Ever since I've been making new works and thus I eventually became an artist myself.
How would you describe your style? What makes your work special?
When I look at my body of work that I have made during the past 6 years I see many different styles. I started with geometric, sometimes minimalistic pieces and have become more and more experimental and free with my compositions amnd the materials I use. I really aim to give my works depth by using contrasting and textured fabrics and I would say some works are very embellished and honor the details. I see serenity, peace and energy in many of my pieces and I rarely work in series, meaning that I jump a lot from style to style.
How do you go about developing your work?
Whenever I see interesting fabrics I instantly get ideas what I could do with them, so one approach is the material itself. Another way is to sit and draw sketches from images that I have in front of my inner eye. Sometimes I get ideas before falling asleep what kind of details I could try and then it's basically rolling up my sleeves and getting to work.
Who or what influences you?
Even though I am not actively looking at other artists' works to draw inspiration from because I want to work with what really comes from inside of myself, you can't prevent it completely. I enjoy Zoey McGuire's work, Elaine Stocki, Julia Bland, Agnes Pelton, Rachel Eulena, Hilma af Klint, Sterling Ruby, Joe Bradley, and Tschabalala Self to only name a few.
Then there's always nature, the stars, the universe, paranormal phenomena, life after death as a great mystery, our subconsciuos, and all these things alike.
Make us curious. What is planned next?
My husband, who is also an artist, our kids and I are moving to Vienna in the summer. We're excited to get new studios for a fresh start there and to dive into the local and international art scene in the city. Besides this, I am working on some commissions and am oppen to whatever opportunities may pop up.
Portrait: Ben Lenhart; other photos courtesy the artist
