Leslye Cole
CREATIVE PRACTICE
Born in Sydney, Leslye Cole’s love of the Australian bush began in childhood, exploring the nature reserve in front of her family home in the leafy North Shore suburb of Lane Cove. After a successful commercial art career as a designer and illustrator in Sydney, she moved to regional NSW in 2012, commencing full time fine art studio practice the same year. She currently lives and works on a 100 acre cattle stud farm SE of Tamworth, NSW. A self taught artist, Cole’s genre works are realistic oil on canvas paintings, using the alla prima technique. Great importance is placed on composition, with objects cropped in a cinematic-style to create the impression of moving in on the subject or scene (a technique honed while working as an art director and storyboard artist). The slow drying and transparent qualities of oils suit the wet-on-wet style as Cole strives to capture the light, action and atmosphere of the moment. Her mixed media portraits are influenced by the Japanese aesthetic, especially their concept of ‘ma’ — or the space between the structural elements. Capturing the essence of the subject becomes an exercise in positive and negative space. A background shape is built up with layers of acrylic wash. Structural lines are drawn with pastel, shadows and highlights then blocked in with black and white gouache. The ‘accidental’ watery drips become part of the composition. The subject appears to emerge out of the background.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My body of work is a narrative of contemporary country life in Australia: the people who live and work on the land going about their day-to-day activities and the individual animals I come across, set in the beauty of the Australian rural landscape. I am especially interested in the interactions of humans with the animals they depend on, the trust that develops between them, and the extensive knowledge these people have of their environment and nature around them. With admiration and curiosity I observe country life with city eyes, using a documentary approach similar to a photojournalist. Alongside this pastoral work, I return to my first artistic love of portraiture, fulfilling numerous commissions a year.
BIO
Solo Exhibitions: 2019 Weswal Gallery, Tamworth, NSW
2016 Weswal Gallery, Tamworth, NSW
Awards: 2019 Finalist — Portia Geach Memorial Award, for Australian female portraitists, S H Ervin
Gallery, Sydney
2018 Packing Room Prize — Frost Over Barraba, NSW; Finalist — Stanthorpe Art Prize, Stanthorpe, QLD;
Category Winner “Traditional” sec2on — Nundle Art Show, NSW
2016 Category Winner — Nundle Art Show, NSW; Category Winner — Currububula Art Show, NSW
2015 Pat Hill Memorial Prize — Nundle Art Show, NSW
2014 People’s Choice Award — Frost Over Barraba, NSW
2013 First Prize — Quirindi Show, NSW; Finalist — Inglis Equine Art Prize, Sydney and touring exhibition
2012 Finalist — Sir John Sulman Prize, The Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney; Category Winner — Nundle Art Show, NSW
2011 Finalist — Inglis Equine Art Prize, Newmarket, Sydney and touring exhibition
2008 People’s Choice — Amnesty International ARTicles Exhibition, NSW
2006 Semi-finalist, People’s Choice — Amnesty International HumanRights Exhibition, NSW
2017 Judge for the Nundle Art Show, NSW
2004 Residence, Arthur Boyd’s Bundanon Trust, Riversdale, Illaroo, NSW
CONTACT
leslye.cole@gmail.com