Kellie Leczinska
Kellie Leczinska is an Australian multidisciplinary artist working in both photography and painting with a focus on figurative art. Her deep knowledge and appreciation for art history underpin all of her creative projects, its tropes integrated with contemporary approaches to portraiture. In Leczinksa's depictions of human form she combines a diverse range of historical and pictorial influences.
Formative years spent in the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea provided Kellie with exposure to rare natural beauty and sparked her current concern for the environment and how people can co-exist within it. Her interaction with the rich traditions of the Indigenous peoples of this area stimulated an enduring respect for the bond between people and the environment and a sensitivity to cultural diversity.
Kellie’s approach to portraiture seeks to transcend simple likeness by introducing a thought-provoking interaction between the sitter and the viewer. Through her collaborative processes, she develops an empathetic and reciprocal connection with her subjects, encouraging them to control their narratives. A strong thread of social commentary runs throughout Kellie’s work highlighting her subjects' unique stories and their broader contexts of social advocacy. The narratives of her work differ greatly; sometimes hauntingly dark, giving way to the narration of shadows or playfully evoking another world.
In her sumptuous still-life photographic works, Leczinska references and plays with the aesthetics of staged settings to address contemporary social issues and traditional themes of the vanitas and memento mori. Kellie also experiments with the introduction of surreal and metaphysical imagery, exploring new possibilities for figurative representation. Oil paint, applied in multiple thin layers and glazes gives rise to infinite ways flesh, drapery or fur can be transformed and explored. Retrieving signs and symbols from historical sources to explore the sitter’s identity and translate these living breathing bodies into painted beings.
Leczinska's works have been exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions. She has been a multiple finalist in the Percival Portrait Painting Prize, the National Photographic Portrait Prize, the Olive Cotton Award for Photography, the MAP Portrait Prize, and the National Still Life Award.
In 2018, her portrait 'Mbathio - Marrickville' won the acquisitive Percival Photographic Portrait Prize at Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Queensland, and in 2017 her work 'Mortgage - Death Pledge' was acquired by Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery from the inaugural National Still Life Award. Her work is held in Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, private and corporate collections in Australia, the United States of America, Holland and the United Kingdom.
Kellie lives in Sydney with her husband and five fur kids.
Contact
Kellie's work is held in private and corporate collections both in Australia and Internationally.
Only a small selection of available work is shown on this site.
Please contact - kellie@thelightcatcher.com.au to arrange a private viewing of printed work.
Kellie is also available for privately commissioned work upon request.
Acknowledgement Of Country
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of Country throughout Australia and recognise their connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
