Phoebe Leach

My work is centred around perception: the initial and the recollected. These dual perspectives determine the imagery of my paintings; recollections act as a device to personally identify with and remember a time before. The initial perception being an individual act belonging to each viewer. I am interested in how people experience and understand the world as an individual and within a collective. I explore the question of connection between people: how we can exist in degrees of separation and togetherness. 

Recent work has focused on the transformation of young people onboard UK Sail Training vessels. A unique environment, yet one that is a magnified reflection of society: a small-scale community, where in isolation, the natural environment, vessel, and people unite, making apparent what it can mean to be human: teamwork, communication, collaboration, and tolerance.

I explore the materiality of paint: the marks that show the artist's presence, the layers of paint that came before, and how time, memory, and recollection of the moment can change the embodiment of the painting. I aim to construct paintings with juxtaposing intensities of paint: translucent and suggestive marks contrasting opaque intricate areas, to guide the viewer across the composition. This approach incorporates my lived experience whilst actively engaging each viewer to respond to the ambiguity according to their experiences and memories.