DAVID LEONARD
Artist Statement
The primary subjects of my paintings are 21st century man's working
monuments, which represent our culture's dedication to production and
consumption. The essence of our way of life can been seen in our never
ending attempt to subdue our environment. It is not my intention to
either glorify or to condemn this objective, but to invite contemplation
and leave judgment up to the viewer. I'm always looking for places
where the man-made environment inundates the natural. I paint this in a
way where subtle abstraction disassociates elements from the
environment, creating an oscillating view of the natural and the
fabricated.
The paintings are meant to be ambiguous -- they can be seen as an indictment of human waste and contemporary alienation, or, simultaneously, they can be understood as silent tributes to the fundamental tools of our society that we all too often ignore. One might ask why I paint these things rather than document them with photographs -- I believe painting, because of its deliberateness, serves purposes that photography cannot. My paintings take a long time to produce and in this way they parallel and underscore the deliberateness with which our machinery is built into the landscape. They are a culmination rather than a moment -- a “long look” at our technology and legacy.
The paintings are meant to be ambiguous -- they can be seen as an indictment of human waste and contemporary alienation, or, simultaneously, they can be understood as silent tributes to the fundamental tools of our society that we all too often ignore. One might ask why I paint these things rather than document them with photographs -- I believe painting, because of its deliberateness, serves purposes that photography cannot. My paintings take a long time to produce and in this way they parallel and underscore the deliberateness with which our machinery is built into the landscape. They are a culmination rather than a moment -- a “long look” at our technology and legacy.
