MCAD MFA

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Leslie Barlow / Gallery 427 / Distance and Dreams

September 29, 2014

Our MFA fine artist Leslie Barlow (Drawing and Painting ’16) recently had a show, ‘Distance and Dreams’ exhibit, at Gallery 427. 

Leslie Barlow is a practicing oil painter living and working in Minneapolis, MN. She attended the University of Wisconsin- Stout where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and minor in Business Administration, with Honors. She recently was accepted into the Master of Fine Arts program at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where she continues to produce work, with a prospective graduation of Spring 2016.

Leslie has exhibited her work nationally and has received numerous awards for her paintings. Most recently she received an Honorable Mention in the Minnesota State Fair Juried Exhibition in 2013 for a large oil painting from her latest series. Another painting from the same series, also receiving an Honorable Mention, can currently be seen in the national juried exhibition at the Washington Pavilion Museum of Arts and Sciences in Sioux Falls, SD.

Leslie has over 400 hours of volunteer work with the Soap Factory, a contemporary and experimental gallery in Minneapolis, serving as the Public Relations Intern in 2011 and as Co-Director of the Volunteer Biennial exhibition in 2012. She has worked for the Art Department at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and during her undergraduate education Leslie also helped start and manage an artist co-op gallery.

Artist statement for the show:

“The pieces in the show Distance and Dreams are a combination of different works I have completed over the last year, from figurative studies to pieces from a body of work entitled Other. Much of my work has dealt with dualities: comparisons in sexuality, gender roles, and human relationships. Most recently my work has taken a turn to focus on the dualities within myself, exploring the different layers of what it means to be a multiracial female in the Midwest.

While my work is introspective and rooted in narrative, I pay as much attention to painterly detail and rendering of the human form as I do conceptual content. My artwork is grounded in a history of oil painting tradition. The figure is very important and central to my work, but there is the ever-evolving tension between figure and background as the abstraction of mark and color weave in and out of the subject matter. They become two stories, yet harmonious; an investigation of the figure in relation to color, form, and space.

Through my practice, my ultimate goal is to create visually stunning work that is socially aware, engages people in conversation, challenges the status quo, and presents thought-provoking contemporary figurative painting.”

For more information, please visit:

www.lesliebarlowart.com

www.gallery427.com