Angela Leach

Curated by: John Armstrong and Moira Clark

11 January 1996 - 17 February 1996
Opening Reception 11 January 1996 8pm

Window:

One Work:

Long – Thin – Contour

Leach’s small-scale, s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d- horizontal-format painting Long – Thin – Contour (1996) depicts intricate patterns of curvilinear, coloured lines. The lines are meticulously painted on a smooth panel surface that has been treated with washes of acrylic paint. The many layers of paint applied to each line add slight but deliberate relief. The resulting patterning is physical and highly graphic, lending the painting a sense of both mechanical and biological structure. This careful work foregrounds labour, suggesting the manufacture and structure of woven cloth, metaphorically connecting the craft of textile production to the recent history of painting. There is a studied playfulness in Leach’s work that suggests a web of references: from the foliate designs of Arts and Crafts fabric and wallpaper to Brigette Riley’s 1960s Op paintings; from the interlace of illuminated manuscripts to printed vinyl upholstery fabric found on thrift shop furniture. This painting both begs and rewards close inspection.

Leach is a member of the Toronto artist collective “Painting Disorders,” and has recently exhibited her work in the collective’s second Toronto exhibition Surface Matters (1995). In 1995, Leach also had a solo exhibition at the Toronto gallery, Tableau Vivant. In 1993, she participated in the Williamsburg Festival (Brooklyn, NY) with the artist collective “You Are Here.” Leach is currently employed as a production weaver, hand-weaving unique yardage for use in fashion.