The Vault: Leslie Nolan - Naked to the Bone

Artist Statement:

Naked to the Bone

This abstract figurative body of paintings portrays the deep feelings and emotions that we try to keep secret, particularly as we struggle through this tumultuous period. Looking behind the facade of clothes and mannerisms that the public sees, the paintings bare a different reality. Color, body language, and texture, encourage the viewer to imagine the risk taker, the cool guy, the show off, the shy worried person, the subversive, the unpredictable rogue or the radical. The common thread – a strong presence and depth of character.

The paintings blur the real with the imagined. These are not real people. The viewer interjects his or her own history in reacting to the image. There is no perfect answer to the question of how to respond. Life remains changeable and ever interesting.

As for my art-making processes, I usually begin with a simple sketch or outline of a person in charcoal on the canvas, then select a simple color palette to accentuate the emotion of the pose. Painting with acrylics and large tools from the hardware store aids in avoiding getting bogged down in detail. Likewise, exaggeration, distortion, and simplification of the figure ensure an original take on modern life, ending up with something I’ve never seen before.

Why do I paint figures? Because are people are infinitely fascinating and complex. They generate the inspiration and impetus for my art.

Artist Bio:

Leslie Nolan has actively exhibited her strong, bold artwork in the USA and internationally since 1998.

Raised in Oregon, she relocated to Washington, DC in 1971, living and working here and abroad as a federal special agent (the first woman at two agencies), security chief, and public diplomacy official with the US Government before retiring from the State Department foreign service. Keeping secrets and operating in sometimes unstable, dangerous areas pervade her artwork. Leslie met and married her husband in Latin America. Throughout her life she absorbed the cultures and hardships of exotic places, all of which have influenced her artwork.

She studied at the University of Madrid, Spain and holds degrees from George Washington University, National Defense University, and Portland State University. Art studies include The Art League School and many workshops overseas and in the U.S.

Known for gestural, lively brushwork, vivid color, and a propensity for injecting ambiguity into her abstracted paintings, Leslie’s art concentrates on the human face and figure. These emotionally rich images are filled with remorse, worry, resilience, or relief as hidden moments captured in time.

Calloway Fine Art & Consulting represents her in the Washington, DC area, and she exhibits with many other galleries and art fairs.