Bio (EN / IT / DE)

EN

I started working with marble in Carrara, and from the first day, I carved marble it was impossible for me to leave it.

For me marble is more than just material, it is my co-creator, driving my imagination during work.”

Marianna Blier was born in Astrakhan, Russia in 1976. Since 2007 she has lived in Vienna, Austria. Marianna studied art at the Astrakhan State Art School, University of Applied Arts Vienna, and the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin as well as Salzburg.

She works in her atelier in Vienna, Austria and in the marble studios of Carrara, Italy. 

Marianna Blier is a sculptor of marble. She began as a painter and has experimented with diverse materials. But Marianna found herself in the marble. Marble caught her imagination with its spiritual beauty, a beauty that is deep and light, delicate and strong.

Marianna studied the traditional, hand-carving marble techniques directly from craftsmen based in Carrara.  She works by hand. Using chisel, and hammer, as well as pneumatic tools in modern variations of traditional methods, she listens to the marble while making visible its voice. Every response from the stone, Marianna feels in her own body. Indeed, the essence of the marble, and the life of this material, is central to her artistic practice.

Looking to classical antiquity, Renaissance Italy, as well as indigenous cultures, Marianna creates new interpretations of these sculptures, stones, and stories. And her research takes her to cathedrals, happenings, and museums across Europe and beyond.

But the mountains and the sea of Carrara and Northen Tuscany is Marianna’s true inspiration. In the rare moment when she is not immersed in her studio, she walks in nature, from the Apuan Alps to the Mediterranean Coast.

Marianna’s sculptures are about what flesh and marble have in common, ancient myths that continue being highly relevant in contemporary social and societal conversations, as well as allegories of creation and what it means to be an artist and search for beauty in today’s world.

Devon Schiller, MA, PhD

Cognitive and Cultural Semiotician Austrian Academy of Sciences and University of Vienna


IT

Marianna Blier è nata nel 1976 ad Astrakhan (Russia), ha studiato arte alla scuola d’arte in Russia, e successivamenteall’Università di Arti Applicate a Vienna e alle accademie estive di Salisburgo e Berlino.

Nel 2016 Marianna Blier inizia a lavorare il marmo a Carrara e fin dal primo giorno che scolpiva per lei è statoimpossibile lasciarlo.

Per lei il marmo non è solo materiale, è il suo co-creatore, che guida la sua immaginazione durante il lavoro. L’immagine può cambiare in modo significativo dallo schizzo iniziale al opera finale. Molto spesso le immagini arrivano nei suoi sogni.

Ispirandosi all’arte antica e rinascimentale, le opere di Marianna sono la percezione e la trasformazione contemporaneadelle immagini classiche. Sono piene di significato filosofico e di simboli nascosti. 

Marianna vive a Vienna e lavora nel suo atelier di Vienna e nello studio di marmo in Carrara.


DE

Marianna Blier wurde 1976 in Astrachan (Russland) geboren. Besuchte eine Kunstschule in Astrakhan und dann Universität für Angewandte Kunst Wien, Summer Academy in Berlin und Salzburg.

Seit 2007 lebt in Wien, arbeitet in Wien und marmor Ateliers in Carrara, Italien.