Artist Statement 2011:
Out of The Blue, Self Portrait 2008
I paint expressive portraits and social narratives. I am specifically interested in painting people, especially those I find a bit quirky and bravely unique. There is something in this honest vulnerability that deeply resonates with me, because I always like routing for the not-so-perfect good-hearted.
I am continuously experimenting in ways to arrange color, form and line, in and around the figure. The themes I repeatedly visit center on the flawed hero within each of us and the inner beauty and purity of being unique. It's an exploration and celebration of the adventurous, rebellious, and pioneering nature yearning inside each of us, along with the contradicting emotions that plague us. Like an old Western, the hero in each of us ultimately wins, but not without our fair share of face-downs with opposing internal and external forces. The paintings are not meant to duplicate reality, but rather to be highly expressive of the sitter's essence in the moment. I then often add a background narrative to express current society or in the case of my self portraits, a visual diary.
I work predominantly in oil. I like to incorporate the accidental into the intentional. For me, this is one of the most important things to do as an artist because when you break free from all the rules, you give room for originality to grow. It also keeps the work open, fresh and progressive. Luckily, this regularly occurs while I am using linseed oil along with the paint. It is a free form way of working, similar to improvising in music- which I used to do regularly while playing jazz on flute. I like seeing and leaving brushstrokes and partially covered mistakes. This is part of the process. Sometimes, I mimic the mistakes and transform them into small fields of visual rhythm surrounding and entering the figure. I like the quality of mystery in my current work. Foremost, I thoroughly enjoy dancing with the paint.
I am continuously experimenting in ways to arrange color, form and line, in and around the figure. The themes I repeatedly visit center on the flawed hero within each of us and the inner beauty and purity of being unique. It's an exploration and celebration of the adventurous, rebellious, and pioneering nature yearning inside each of us, along with the contradicting emotions that plague us. Like an old Western, the hero in each of us ultimately wins, but not without our fair share of face-downs with opposing internal and external forces. The paintings are not meant to duplicate reality, but rather to be highly expressive of the sitter's essence in the moment. I then often add a background narrative to express current society or in the case of my self portraits, a visual diary.
I work predominantly in oil. I like to incorporate the accidental into the intentional. For me, this is one of the most important things to do as an artist because when you break free from all the rules, you give room for originality to grow. It also keeps the work open, fresh and progressive. Luckily, this regularly occurs while I am using linseed oil along with the paint. It is a free form way of working, similar to improvising in music- which I used to do regularly while playing jazz on flute. I like seeing and leaving brushstrokes and partially covered mistakes. This is part of the process. Sometimes, I mimic the mistakes and transform them into small fields of visual rhythm surrounding and entering the figure. I like the quality of mystery in my current work. Foremost, I thoroughly enjoy dancing with the paint.
More Art Talk:
Auto Biography Leslie Pierce 2008
Rejecting the notion of painting over-polished, slick representational portraits, Pierce cuts to the core
and lives up to her name by painting in a bold, savage, expressionistic style that surrounds the figure
and enters the beauty and uniqueness of the inner spirit.
"Her work is a celebration of the adventurous, rebellious, and pioneering nature yearning in each of us, along with the contradicting emotions that plague us. Like an old Western, the hero in each of us ultimately wins, but not without our fair share of face-downs with opposing internal and external forces".
Pierce attacks each masonite board armed with her arsenal of oil paint and linseed oil, layering stroke upon stroke of complimentary colors. In a sense, her strokes themselves become a narrative of line and color,
conflict and resolution, light streaming into darkness, and a winning combination.
Some other defining characteristics of her painting style, along with the use of brilliant colors, are areas of flattened space contrasted with areas of modeled spaces, implied movement of the figure, and dotted or dashed lines that appear in much of her new work. The markings, she states, goes back to childhood memories of coloring books she treasured while growing up in New York. These specific coloring books contained cartoon drawings with dots and dashes between character outlines, intended for children to paint over with water. The water activated hidden colors, which to a child, seemed to appear like magic. Dots and abbreviated lines also appear in architectural drawings and in drawing books on perspective- both subjects that the artist continues to explore and expand upon from her earlier work, by experimenting with the use of these dashed lines as punctuations and part of her visual language with the painted and drawn figure. -R. Mutt
and lives up to her name by painting in a bold, savage, expressionistic style that surrounds the figure
and enters the beauty and uniqueness of the inner spirit.
"Her work is a celebration of the adventurous, rebellious, and pioneering nature yearning in each of us, along with the contradicting emotions that plague us. Like an old Western, the hero in each of us ultimately wins, but not without our fair share of face-downs with opposing internal and external forces".
Pierce attacks each masonite board armed with her arsenal of oil paint and linseed oil, layering stroke upon stroke of complimentary colors. In a sense, her strokes themselves become a narrative of line and color,
conflict and resolution, light streaming into darkness, and a winning combination.
Some other defining characteristics of her painting style, along with the use of brilliant colors, are areas of flattened space contrasted with areas of modeled spaces, implied movement of the figure, and dotted or dashed lines that appear in much of her new work. The markings, she states, goes back to childhood memories of coloring books she treasured while growing up in New York. These specific coloring books contained cartoon drawings with dots and dashes between character outlines, intended for children to paint over with water. The water activated hidden colors, which to a child, seemed to appear like magic. Dots and abbreviated lines also appear in architectural drawings and in drawing books on perspective- both subjects that the artist continues to explore and expand upon from her earlier work, by experimenting with the use of these dashed lines as punctuations and part of her visual language with the painted and drawn figure. -R. Mutt
" Leslie Pierce uses the figure as a catalyst to explore character and social narratives. Departing from traditional realism, she incorporates the abstract, the unintentional, and the element of chance into her oil paintings to evoke the true character of her subjects.
Old School / New School is an exploration of the evolution of her style of portraiture. Pierce paints from life, often times using speed painting techniques and occasionally incorporating encaustic and photography. Working with oil paint on masonite board, she embraces the unpredictable, even taking mistakes and multiplying them until they become part of the background and the figure. Each portrait is a thorough exploration of a person and a point in time."
-Lee Webster
Old School / New School is an exploration of the evolution of her style of portraiture. Pierce paints from life, often times using speed painting techniques and occasionally incorporating encaustic and photography. Working with oil paint on masonite board, she embraces the unpredictable, even taking mistakes and multiplying them until they become part of the background and the figure. Each portrait is a thorough exploration of a person and a point in time."
-Lee Webster
,Leslie Pierce, Austin Artist, Leslie Pierce artist