LEAH PELLOW
The human form has always fascinated Leah and she has recently been drawn to re-examine portrait painting. Currently working on a series of portraits and commissions in a highly detailed style similar to hyper-realism, she uses paint to capture her subjects in a specific moment in time. Every painting is broken down into multiple layers worked on top of each other, with each layer increasing in detail to create the overall effect. This technique can take several months to complete and is extremely meticulous, but it is in these finer points that the painting really comes to life, revealing true likeness to the subject.
Centred around the concept of attraction derived from loathing, the compulsion of revulsion, Leah's Abject and Flesh paintings focus on her personal thoughts and opinions regarding animal slaughter and consumption; featuring death, flesh and meat as the primary subject. Being a vegan she has always been repelled by everything to do with dead animals and the consumption of them, but has equally been intrigued by the inevitability of death. Through the means of detailed paintings, aided by the use of photography, Leah intends to express her feeling of horror on this subject matter by generating a shocking and abject response from the viewer through a push/pull effect of beauty and repulsion.