Natural Landscape Rugs of Alexandra Kehayoglou: An Artistic Glimpse Into Vanishing Worlds
Artist Alexandra Kehayoglou uses the medium of carpet weaving to draw attention to the effects of man and his pursuit of materialism on the natural environment. Alexandra’s works are three-dimensional and often life-like in their scale. They combine texture and color in a way that engages the senses, but there is more behind these textile art pieces than just beautiful rugs.
Kehayoglou creates tufted rugs that explore the natural landscape of her Argentinian home. Each one of them represents a real landscape. The locations that she selects are often tied to controversy. For instance, she created a scene from the Santa Cruz River, an area that has been dramatically altered by the human-built environment. Her recreation of Raggio Creek is a call for greater awareness of how human activity is altering the environment and changing it forever.
The Creative Process of Artist Alexandra Kehayoglou Rugs
Alexandra Kehayoglou rugs are created from the artist’s own memory and research into the disappearing grasslands and waterways of her Argentinian home. However, her art rugs have a message that goes beyond the local landscapes featured in her works. The message extends to the rest of the world and a need to recognize the value of our natural resources and environment.
The Alexandra Kehayoglou carpets are created using surplus materials from her family’s industrial carpet making factory, which has been in operation for nearly six decades. Many of her rugs as art pieces can be hung from the wall and used as tapestries, but with some a portion trails on the floor.
Visitors to her art installments (she has been featured in many art shows around the world) can walk or even lay on the there artistic landscape carpets in the display. This gives the display an interactive component that allows the audience to feel the work and touch it.
The artistic landscape Alexandra Kehayoglou rugs showcase her research on the effects that planned projects would have on the spaces that she has chosen to represent in her works. For instance, her work on the Santa Cruz River was included in the National Gallery of Victoria Triennial in Melbourne. The installation represents her interpretation of the effects of the project on the ecosystem and the surrounding area. In another work, she features the tribes of Patagonia and the changes the modern progress has caused them.
Artist Alexandra Kehayoglou Rugs that Must Be Experienced
The textile artworks of artist Alexandra Kehayoglou, are colossal in scale and one cannot help but be taken aback by the size of the works. Kehayoglou tried to capture the enormity of the space and the magnitude of the impact of human activity. Alexandra Kehayoglou’s love of the land and her concern for the need to protect it is apparent in her impressive works. Alexandra’s message is clear, making her works both beautiful and ominous at the same time.
Installations that feature Kehayoglou’s work are something that must be experienced. Her dedication to caring for the earth and preserving the natural environment for the future goes beyond the ordinary. Her use of artistic carpet weaving allows her to extend the visual impact of the works in a way that allows the visitors to touch and experience these spaces. Her use of the medium allows her to make the landscape carpets real and bring them beyond the flat image of a photography or video image.
Kehayoglou’s art is powerful, and the use of carpets as a medium helps to drive home her message of urgency. The textile art pieces are a sensory experience and an inspiration that makes the effects of human activity real in a way that touches the heart. From an artistic viewpoint, it shows how carpet weaving can be used to bring dimension to a piece and create a new experience for the visitor. Spectacular is the only way to describe these fantastic pieces by an artist using her work to make the world a better place.
We love the work of Alexandra Kehayoglou and do not represent the artist or sell her pieces.
If you enjoyed this article, check out our other artist spotlights in our Textile Artists Series:
This rug blog about the textile artist Alexandra Kehayoglou rugs and landscape carpets was published by Nazmiyal Antique Rug Gallery in NYC.