Jenny Leonard | The Work
Statement
In travel and in painting Jenny Leonard searches for a world within a world.
Leonard's work is derived from experiences backpacking and the sense of physical and emotional dislocation in strange, foreign places. She is interested in the picturesque and the tourist ideal, the way the world is framed in a photograph and the need to explore, capture and conquer. In the aftermath of travel she discovers a space to contemplate these anonymous landscapes in a placeless world through painting.
Leonard indulges in the formations of simple landscape compositions, exploring the marks she craves in the picture and the sights she pursues in travel. The paintings emerge as a kind of fantasy idyllic backdrop with the familiar among the abstract, where inventive forms compete with existing objects.
Morphing the terrain as she paints, overly saturated colours and gestural marks capture the essence of the form rather than its appearance. Instant brushstrokes leave the end result at the mercy of the materials. Leonard pushes and pulls the brush across a white washed surface and allow the foreign yet familiar place surface.
During the intuitive process of painting, absurdities surface in the picture, reducing the complex scenery to simple, comprehendible forms in a simple brushstroke - resulting in a generic and universally understood landscape, however peculiar.
This exercise becomes the final stage and reflection of her travels.
CV
EDUCATION
2008 – 2011 First Class Fine Art BA HONS, Norwich University College of the Arts
SELECTED COMMISSIONS
2011 Age Norfolk, Mural Project, Dining Hall Restaurant, Grays Fair Court, Norwich
2010 British Airways Project, Winter Olympics, Vancouver. London cityscape for networking event
2010 British Airways Head Office, Waterside, London, London cityscape mural.
2010 CafeNeon Restaurant, Agios Stefanos, Crete, mural for interior of restaurant.
2010 Welbeckgroup Financial Advisors, London office, canvas painting of London city scene.
2010 The Window Coffee House, Norwich, mural, postcard designs and website illustration.
2009 South Park Primary School, dining hall mural, Ilford.
2009 Madder Market Restaurant, Norwich. 36 paintings of musical icons for restaurant areas.
2008 South Rise Primary School, Plumstead, 9 murals in corridors for refurbishment project.
2006 The Remarkables Ski Resort, Queenstown, New Zealand, 3 murals in rentals store.
2006 The Peppertree Lodge, Bay of Islands, New Zealand, 2 murals in communal areas.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 Hypostatic Landscapes, Assembly House, Norwich.
2010 Figuratively Speaking, The Dome Gallery, Braintree Library, Essex.
2010 Presence in the Place, Stickyfingerz Gallery, Norwich.
2010 Accidental Landscapes, Norwich University College of the Arts.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 Fakenham Contemporary Art Open, Norfolk.
2011 Elements, Material Worlds, The Forum, Norwich.
2011 Worstead Arts Festival, Norfolk.
2011 Braintree Open, Braintree Museum, Essex.
2011 SAVORR, art platform launch, Norwich University College of the Arts
2011 Eastern Open, Kings Lynn Arts Centre.
2010 Showcase, Richmix, Bethnal Green, London.
2010 No Working Title, toured 3 University galleries & concluded with discussion at the Tate Modern.
2010 Shades of Grey, Stew Gallery, Norwich.
2009 Showcase, Cafe 1001, Brick Lane, London.
2009 The Late Shift, Sainsbury Art Centre, UEA, Norwich.
2009 FANN (Festival of Architecture Norfolk and Norwich) Norwich University College of Arts.
PRIZES AND AWARDS
2010 S.P.R.E.T. Grant Award to travel to Greece for a mural commission.
2009 District Arts Special mention prize, Braintree Open Art Competition, Essex County Council.
2006 1st Prize in Art Competition to showcase the musical ‘Rent’, Queenstown Theatre, New Zealand.
PROJECTS AND WORKSHOPS
2011 ShopArtNorwich selected and showcased for project run by Norwich Arts Centre.
2011 Create for Cross, Art Auction, St Gregory Centre of the Arts, Norwich.
2010 1000 Heads, London, speaker for informal contemporary art talk at social media and marketing company.
PUBLICATIONS / PRESS
2011 Eastern Daily Press, Norwich, Feature for Age Norfolk Mural.
2011 Evening News, Norwich, Front page feature for Age Norfolk Mural
2011 BBC Look East, News Bulletin for Age Norfolk Mural.
2010 Up in the Air, British Airways Internal Magazine. Feature on Painting work.
2009 Period House Magazine, Illustration commission.
2008 Crave Magazine, articles and illustrations commissioned for 6 issues.
2006 Mountain Scene Newspaper, New Zealand, Feature on Mural work at Ski Resort.