Artist Steve Alexis’s genre-defying work is an exploration of life, feeling, and the experience of being in and of this world.

Although he thinks he’s always been an artist, Alexis didn’t always realize he was making art. “When I was younger, I would make these small sculptures out of whatever I could get my hands on and just mess around like that for a while,” he says. “It took until my third year of undergrad to finally realize I had passion for making work.” After graduating in 2020, he accepted a spot in Carnegie Mellon’s Master of Fine Arts program, and he continues to make art around the city.

Alexis makes abstract works that speak to the ideas and emotions that mold him day to day. “Whether these feelings and sentiments are explicit or, if I’m even fully aware of them,” he says, “they manifest through abstract forms.”

He says the only unique thing about his work is that it comes from him and his hand. “When I have enough space and time to focus on making, meaning my life outside the studio is rich as well, the work flows from the amount of time I put into it,” he shares. “A great studio can run from 12 to 18 hours and barely feel like I’m working until I actually stop.”

Alexis recently had a solo show at 707 Penn Gallery. This career path has helped him see how malleable he is — “how much making objects can change the way you orient yourself in the world.”

Story by Corinne Whiting / Photography by Laura Petrilla

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