* All images used with permission. Please do not distribute without first contacting the artist.
My current body of work falls somewhere between the worlds of photography, painting and collage. I begin with photographs of seemingly ordinary and mundane scenes, which I then paint directly upon to distill and reveal the visually poignant moments that exist all around us, but are often overlooked.
There is a quiet anxiety and loneliness in these images of isolated houses, empty chairs, abandoned pools and vacant streets. Shadows loom from unknown/unseen sources, horizon lines become uncomfortably close, people are absent and geographic clues are obscured. Despite all this uneasiness, there is also a sense of bravery or at least a blind and determined optimism.
"Leah and I were in a group exhibition earlier this year and it was such a pleasure showing along side her work. While in someone else's hands, her paired down vintage Air streams and rundown trucks might verge on kitsch, she treats her subject with respect and they become these beautiful objects. I’m also drawn to her color choices, while vivid, her paintings are still quiet, slightly lonely and have air of nostalgia."