ARIANNA LEEMANN
I am a visual artist working mainly with 2D mixed media on paper as well as the canvas of my face. I have been making art my whole life and it is present in all aspects of my self/life.
I work with many mediums such as oil pastel, colored pencil, ink, marker, and I dabble in all types of paint. I value the way each of these mediums, and their interactions with one another, can convey different tones and offer something new to the work. In my current work, I depict Surrealist landscapes, an art movement I feel encapsulates my artistic desires and the way it is involved in my life. I also create pieces with a mixture of gestural abstraction (or visual automatism, à la Surrealism) and detailed abstract renderings, which I consider my Meticulous Nonsense. I use both of these “styles” to illustrate moments from my life, anything from a small event to a period of time, and their layered complexities.
In addition to art, I am also passionate about art history because I believe that by studying works of art and art movements through time with respect to the content, color, materials, in their respective contexts, we can get a greater understanding of the history of humanity and culture. Through this visual history, stories and emotions of an individual or a group can transcend time. In short, I think art is Really Cool😃. My other passions include literature in general and Russian literature in particular, psychology, and the history of feminist thoughts and ideas, as well as gender theories. Inspirations include Kate Bush, Julie Mehretu, my friend and collaborator (featured on this site, Anika), Leonor Fini, Hieronymus Bosch, and nature.
