Aia Leu
Artist – Kenmare
Bio Aia Leu 2026
Aia Leu, born in 1971 in Formentera, Balearic Islands, Spain, is a Swiss artist based in Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland. She left Formentera with her family at the age of three and spent her childhood in London, France, Greece, India, Nepal and Switzerland. Growing up among different cultures and environments had a strong influence on her perspective and creative development.
She comes from an artistic background and is the granddaughter of the Swiss artist Eva Aeppli, who was married to Jean Tinguely and was part of the avant-garde art scene in Paris in the 1950s.
A natural drawing ability from an early age led Aia to studied figure sketching and watercolour technique in Vevey, Switzerland, before moving from London to Kenmare in 1989, where she has since lived and has her studio. Working primarily in oil, her paintings explore symbolism and mythology within the landscape and her work is held in private and international collections.
In 2020, Aia completed more than 80 paintings for an award-winning tarot Thoth Journey. She is one of the founder’s of the Kenmare Courtyard Gallery cooperative in Kenmare and is also a member of Le Cheile Collective in Kenmare and Visual Artists Ireland.
Aia is currently developing Landscapes of the Zodiac, a touring exhibition of her paintings inspired by astrology and elements within the landscape. The exhibition had its launch at the Kenmare Arts Festival in 2026 and will be exhibited at Killarney House and Gardens in 2027.
“I am an artist based in Kenmare, County Kerry working with oil paint and watercolour. My paintings explore placing archeology, history and mythology within landscapes and imagined settings to tell a visual story.
My work grows out of a childhood spent living in different cultures, the types of books I read then from; Chitra Katha ( picture stories ) to victorian novels, to gothic and prehistoric fiction. I am also influenced by my grandmother Eva Aeppli’s work, some of her sculptures explored the cycle of the planets. These things have shaped my interest in symbols and the past.
When working on my astrology series, I researched the colours and the seasons and other known associations to each sign, incorporating these into the artwork. I wanted to transform the star constellations we know in the night sky as real animals, literal objects, human figures, mythological and hybrid creatures. I showed them as living breathing parts of an earthly or surreal landscape in my paintings.
My intention is to continue to introduce symbolic imagery and elements into my new works. I am now extending my astrology series with larger paintings that incorporate more of the classical elements into the composition.”
Aia Leu, 2026
