Lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri
In the hit-or-miss world of contemporary art, longevity in itself is a virtue. Leslie Laskey's lengthy biography can at times read like the artistic history of the 20th and 21st century. Now in his eighties, Laskey remains a working artist-and a central and engaging one at that. Leslie Laskey demonstrates again that working in the studio is crucial to a creative mind and longevity.
His new work explores and engages us in images found in things and places. Showing us how they work, finding sensuality in surfaces and rich mystifying colors. Laskey never separates his art from its viewer as he always engages them in the process of his work. Laskey's work investigates, transports, and explores both modernism and abstraction. Although most of his work is non-representational, hints of earth, vegetation, light and darkness peak through the colors and geometries that characterize his work. Another key element of his paintings is imagination. Leslie Laskey's art is enigmatic and mysterious; it is hard to identify, yet we want to learn more. The layers shapes, colors and forms float on the canvas, as if he captured a moment in their orbit.
Born in Michigan in 1921, Laskey served in a combat unit in Europe and was among the troops that landed on Omaha Beach early on 1944 D-Day. Leslie Laskey is Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Laskey studied at the Institute of Design in Chicago (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) with founder and American Bauhaus pioneer Lászlò Moholy-Nagy and Indiana University. He currently divides his time between St. Louis and Manistee, Michigan.
Catalog Essay by Robert W. Duffy
by David Bonetti in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Fully illustrated catalog with an essay by Robert W. Duffy
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TANGO (Echo)
Crayon and acrylic on Japanese paper
24 1/4 x 30 1/4 inches
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Hinge II
Mixed media on panel
20 x 24-1/2 inches
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H/I
Acrylic on panel
48 x 71 inches
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Untitled
Mixed media on paper
48 x 57 inches
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Sumi Place
Monotype and acrylic on paper
44 x 30 inches
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Guardians
Monotype and acrylic on paper
30 x 44 inches
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Sumi Place
Monotype and acrylic on paper
44 x 30 inches
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Wait!
Acrylic on paper
44 x 30 inches
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Untitled
Mixed media on paper
38 x 26 inches
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Long Light
Monotype and acrylic on paper
30 x 44 inches
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