Léa Dumayet: Sculpting the Void with Minimal Means

In an interview with Davide Dal Sasso for Artribune's 'Dialoghi di Estetica' series, French sculptor Léa Dumayet (b. 1990) discusses her practice centered on minimal materials, equilibrium, and the void. A 2014 graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dumayet lives in Paris and works in her Montreuil studio. Her works have been shown at Galerie Chloé Salgado, Galerie Perrotin, and Villa Belleville in Paris; Pollen Monflanquin in the south of France; Guest Project Space in London; the Musée Egine in Greece; the Biennale de la Sculpture à la Propriété Caillebotte de Yerres; and the Biennale d'art actuels Au CRAC in Champigny. Currently in residency at Viafarini in Milan, she is developing new sculptures with Fonderia Battaglia for a solo show at Galleria C in Neuchâtel (April 30–May 30, 2020). Dumayet cites Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Richard Serra, Robert Morris, and Carl André as references. She works instinctively with industrial and natural materials—often metal—found on streets, in hardware stores, flea markets, forests, or beaches. Her process involves testing materials' limits through hanging and balancing, leaving visible connections to reveal her intervention. She aims to create forms with the void, emphasizing a site's architecture. Her core idea is that 'life hangs by a thread,' exploring fragility, equilibrium, and the tension between vulnerability and stability.