Les St. Leon
St. Leon’s visual language explores the very nature of perception, while aiming to convey movement and continuity. He is constantly searching for new techniques that will best capture his visual and conceptual ideas relating to space, time and motion. Either his compositions start out as familiar settings, soon morph into abstraction, or the subject matter stays somewhat true to life - the narrative context remains rather obscure. His latest works take ambiguous references to urban landscapes and mechanical structures, and portray them in painterly abstraction.
Throughout the past decade St. Leon developed a new technique which resembles a weave, employing oil paint to create thread-like patterns. Experimenting with this technique he sought to portray movement on canvas. It also allows the under-painting to show through and be part of the narrative of the painting as a totality.
Born in Ontario, Canada, in 1957. Les St. Leon comes from generations of circus performers, artists and acrobats. St. Leon's heritage has helped shape his attention to color, form and lines. He has subsequently refined his own visual and conceptual vocabulary that emerged through his focus on the points of intersection between sculpture, painting, music and dance.
A graduate of Fine Arts from Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL, he continued his studies in Computer Animation in San Francisco Computer Art Institute, San Francisco, CA. St. Leon splits his time between his studio and working in commercial art creating scenic art. Some of these landmark sceneries include AVATAR at Disney World, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, The African Animal Habitats exhibit at Lincoln Park Zoo, and The Wonders of Wildlife Museum. Apart from this work, St. Leon exhibitions include “Memories”, LoosenArt Magazine / MILLEPIANI Art Space, Rome, Italy, Group (2018); “Under 18 Inches”, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY, Group (2017); "Wish You Were Here 16", A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Group (2017); “Nudes”, Ybor City Warehouse Gallery, Tampa, FL , Group (2012 ); "Preservation Jar", Artness Gallery, En Shemer, Israel, Duo (2011).
Les St. Leon currently lives and works in New York City, NY.
This work entitled "My Playground of Others’ Memories" poetically investigates the intersections between memories, narrative and forms, through looking at our habit of accumulating 'things'. Seeking to articulate the nuances of relations embedded in the relationship between the inanimate objects that surround us, that we collect and use in our daily lives and their role in forming our memories, while experimenting with forms, shapes, textures, patterns and substance, through which we generate a dialogue between Photography and Fine Art, conceptual rigor and playfulness, representation and abstraction.
By presenting composite, and manipulated images of trivial objects De-familiarized of their functional properties and removed from their larger schemes of meaning, we explore objects as containing a profusion of meanings, while confronting with the abstract aesthetic structures that underlie the natural and artificial environments. Rather than creating a traditional storyline or narrative, this work reveals intricate and enigmatic mise-en-scènes that prompt personal reflections on memories, and invite the viewers to construct their own narrative.
This is the first collaboration between Artist Les St. Leon and Photographer Sigal Ben-David in installation and photography. “My Playground of Others’ Memories” has been completed between 2014 and 2017. This new series comprises 10 color photographs shot in medium
format.
Sigal Ben-David was born in 1973 in Israel. She graduated of Camera Obscura School of Art, Tel-Aviv, Israel, majoring in Photography, in 2009. And was a participant in an Art program - Digital Media Major in 2008-2009 at the Kibbutzim College of Education, Technology and the Arts, Tel-Aviv, Israel. Her recent exhibitions include “Through Compassionate Eyes”, The Charter Oak Cultural Center, Hartford, CT, Group (2018) “Memories”, LoosenArt Magazine / MILLEPIANI Art Space, Rome, Italy, Group (2018); “Under 18 Inches”, Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY, Group (2017); "Wish You Were Here 16", A.I.R. Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, Group (2017); "Undetermined Landscape", Two Moon Art House, Brooklyn, NY, Solo (2013); "DOF", Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan, Group (2011); "DOF", Architects House Gallery, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, Group (2011); "Preservation Jar", Artness Gallery, En Shemer, Israel, Duo (2011); "No.Where.Else", Centre Culturel Français, Nazareth, Israel, Group (2010); "Woman 3000", Garage Gang, Kiev, Ukraine, Group (2010); Tel Hai Open Museum of Photography, Tel Hai, Israel, Group (2010); "Untitled", Ha’Chalalit Gallery, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, Israel, Group (2009). Sigal Ben-David lives and works in New York City, NY.
