11 Questions with Leah Oates

Leah Oates has a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and a M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Fulbright Fellow for graduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.

From 2018 to 2020, Oates was in groups shows in Toronto at The Gladstone Hotel, Gallery 1313, Propeller Gallery, Black Cat Artspace and Showroom, Papermill Gallery, Arta Gallery, Neilson Park Creative Centre, Connections Gallery and Wychwood Barns Community Gallery and was part of the 2019 SNAP Toronto Photography Auction.

In 2018-2019, Oates had press in Art Toronto, Junto Magazine, Magazine 43, Underexposed Magazine, Ruminate Journal, Mud Season Review, dArt Magazine, The Tulane Review, The Six Hundred JournalBlue Mesa Review, Friends

of the Artist, GASHER Journal, Flumes Literary Journal, and the 805 Lit + Art Journal.

Oates has had solo shows at Black Cat Artspace, Susan Eley Fine Art, The MTA Lightbox Project at 42nd Street, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, The Center for Book Arts, Henry Street Settlement and A Taste of Art Gallery and locally at Tomasulo Gallery in New Jersey, Real Art Ways in Connecticut, Sara Nightingale Gallery in Water Mill, Long Island and the Sol Mednick Gallery at the Philadelphia University of the Arts. Oates has had solo shows nationally at Anchor Graphics, Artemisia Gallery, and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago and internationally at Galerie Joella in Turku, Finland.

www.leahoates.com

 ARTIST STATEMENT

Thus, the world appears to be a complicated tissue of events in which connections of different kinds of alternate, overlap, or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole. All phenomena are processes, connections, all is in flux, and at moments this flux is visible. - Peter Matthiessen from The Snow Leopard

The Transitory Space series deals with urban and natural locations that are transforming due to the passage of time, altered natural conditions, and a continual human imprint. This series articulates fluctuation in the photographic image and captures movements through time, perception, and space.

Transitory spaces have messy human energy that is perpetually in the present yet continually altering. They are endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty and fragility. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of existence.

INTERVIEW

Why are you an artist, and when did you first become one?

At an early age, I knew that I would go into the arts but was not sure which field.

I grew up in an artistic family as my mom was a painter, and my dad was a writer/carpenter. I was urged to explore and pursue all the arts, which I did, so I acted, sang, danced, wrote, and created. I trained for a while from age 5-11 as a classical ballerina too.

When I began my early teenage years, I realized I was more interested in the visual arts.

My family was going to art openings, museum shows, ballets, etc. (my favorite was Swan Lake) from an early age. My mom would bring drawing supplies to a museum show for my brother and me. We'd all draw in front of a Degas, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Turner, Matisse, Cezanne, and more, which was early training in being an artist.

What is your personal aim as an artist?

My aim as an artist is to look and see what is around me and then interpret this as a visual

The image that combines what I see and then also what I aim to communicate and share with the world. When I look back on a moment, it's full of impressions, and multiple exposures truly capture this.

 I make multiple exposures on specific frames in the camera, which allows me to display a complete correlation of lived experiences with one's inner perceptions that a single exposure just misses. 

Can you tell us how the pandemic period affected your way of seeing the world and reflects in your artistic expression?

My work deals with flux and constant change, which has come into sharper focus during the pandemic. But in reality, time and the future have always been in play and open to any outcomes. It's just that people resist this, as this can be uncomfortable for people. They choose comfort and routine as it's easier, but it also can be a hypnotic trap, and the pandemic just tore that apart and disrupted life. My work is about that disruption. 

It pertains to the environment, which is also in the early stages of climate change disasters, i.e., fires, floods, etc. 

My work also deals with a schism in time, space, and perception in the way people perceive reality as in each moment; many numerous things are happening. 

You have been noted saying: "The world thus appears to be a complicated tissue of events in which connections of different kinds alternate, overlap or combine and thereby determine the texture of the whole." 

My ongoing series Transitory Space deals with the flux environment and the passage of time and visual schisms between now (pre-advanced climate change) and a potential future (post imminent climate change).  

This series is a beautiful visual forewarning and evidence of our potential future and acts as a crucial message for now and for the future.

Do you have a role model that you've drawn inspiration from when creating your art?

My role models are my husband, son, mom, brother, extended family, and friends, mostly in the arts.
The main things that keep me going are my family, friends, all the arts from the visual arts, music, literature, cinema, etc. and nature, our cat, and our house. Cities also inspire me more as I grow older.

The artists who inspire me are Monet, Cezanne, Matisse, Man Ray, Basquiat, Francis Bacon, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hockney, Georgia O'Keeffe, Rembrandt, Degas, Velázquez, Turner, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Steichen, Mary Cassatt, Helen Levitt, Yoko Ono, Edward Steichen, Diane Arbus, Sebastião Salgado, Robert Frank, Frida Kahlo, Alfred Stieglitz, Lee Friedlander and Louise Bourgeois.

We notice the electric cables in your work. Why this expression? What is the relation between them, nature, and Toronto?

The Double Electric series is about where man and the environment intersect. The blue section in these works is similar to an x-ray or a forensic photograph (before the misdeed of altering the environment) and acts as a document. The yellow sections represent an image of the earth's tainted atmosphere with smoke, pollution, etc. The never-ending electrical grids become our new forests, and they come beautifully to humans as it's all we know and see for miles. The Double Electric series is most likely mostly dystopian in my Transitory Space series but visually may represent what the future holds. 

What do you see as the strengths of your project, visually or conceptually?

I think this is for others to say. I focus on the work and visually communicate the themes I'm interested in and focused on.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What is your artistic routine when working?

My process is to get into nature and photograph on 35 mm film in the camera, which is one of my favorite things. 

Then the negatives are processed, scanned, and edited, altered digitally, and printed. My artistic routine is to be in my studio each day for a few hours to edit and alter images, do administrative work, i.e., applying for shows, packing work up for shows, applying for art opportunities, etc. 

What do you wish you knew about Contemporary Art before you got started?

I love both the Old Masters and Contemporary Art, and it's better for myself and really any Artist or visually oriented person in the arts to view and keep up on current trends as one never knows what may be inspiriting or lead to new ideas.

What artists influence your work most?

I’d say Monet, Matisse, Turner, Man Ray, O’Keefe, Steichen and Stieglitz.

What are you working on now? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

I've been recently photographing a lot locally in Toronto and mainly hunkering down in my studio with these new works. I'm most excited about this new body of work and seeing it printed and excited to get it into the world for people to enjoy, process, and contemplate.