Saskia Leek

Saskia Leeks work is of interest to me for her composition, colour and form.
Leek’s playful questioning of the conventions of representation and notions of what constitutes “good” painting. Working in oils on a small scale on board, the artist is interested in producing works enhanced by a raw and modest quality. The shifting meanings that one encounters from Saskia Leek’s paintings can range from the clichéd to the fantastic and the eerie. Her sourcing of subject matter from amateur found art works and unfashionable outdated second-hand prints creates a sense of both kitsch sentimentality and nostalgic melancholy.

The matt colours create a subtly while the yellow consumes our attention. The colours in the painting above create depth and 3.D dimensional space. The forms are organic while still containing hard edged geometric shapes. The compostional is arranged in away where forms create a cluster, they hover in space, yet contained by the rectangle surrounding it.

This is what I am constantly forced to think about in my own practice, how the picture is contained, why a rectangle? questions that arise in my head become resolved through an intuitive process of making. I think though different layers I can try many different compositions, yet I always try to off set the viewer, creating a sort of wobble in perception.