Leslie Roberts, "INBOX"
$2500. Acrylic gouache, ink, graphite on 3/8 inch MDF panel, 12” x 9”, 2020
Artist statement
I translate quotidian language into rule-based abstraction, in works that are diagrams of their own making. My paintings contain lists of words from sources like product labels, instruction manuals, email, street signs, and my to-do lists. On slate-like gessoed panels, I chart columns of writing into grids of pigment and line. This body of work, made at home, is intimate in size. It began on graph paper, when my son was small: while waiting for him to fall asleep, I diagrammed to-do lists and mundane reflections. The ordered process of mapping language allows unexpected color relationships, in configurations that are pattern-like but irregular. The lists and annotations are finally inseparable from the painted structures they create. In documenting and transmuting the fine print of daily life, each panel is a record of observing, thinking, and making.
Artist bio
Leslie Roberts had recent solo shows at 57W57Arts in NYC (2021) and at Minus Space in Brooklyn (2019). She has also exhibited at spaces including the Brooklyn Museum, McKenzie Fine Art, Pierogi Gallery, PPOW, Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY, the Visual Arts Center of NJ, the Weatherspoon Museum (Greensboro, NC), and the Wellin Museum (Clinton, NY.) She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Ragdale, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Marble House Project. Roberts has an MFA from Queens College and a BA from Yale, and attended Skowhegan and the New York Studio School. A Brooklyn resident, she has taught at Pratt Institute for 35 years. She is represented by Minus Space in Brooklyn.
$2500. Acrylic gouache, ink, graphite on 3/8 inch MDF panel, 12” x 9”, 2020
Artist statement
I translate quotidian language into rule-based abstraction, in works that are diagrams of their own making. My paintings contain lists of words from sources like product labels, instruction manuals, email, street signs, and my to-do lists. On slate-like gessoed panels, I chart columns of writing into grids of pigment and line. This body of work, made at home, is intimate in size. It began on graph paper, when my son was small: while waiting for him to fall asleep, I diagrammed to-do lists and mundane reflections. The ordered process of mapping language allows unexpected color relationships, in configurations that are pattern-like but irregular. The lists and annotations are finally inseparable from the painted structures they create. In documenting and transmuting the fine print of daily life, each panel is a record of observing, thinking, and making.
Artist bio
Leslie Roberts had recent solo shows at 57W57Arts in NYC (2021) and at Minus Space in Brooklyn (2019). She has also exhibited at spaces including the Brooklyn Museum, McKenzie Fine Art, Pierogi Gallery, PPOW, Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY, the Visual Arts Center of NJ, the Weatherspoon Museum (Greensboro, NC), and the Wellin Museum (Clinton, NY.) She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Ragdale, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Marble House Project. Roberts has an MFA from Queens College and a BA from Yale, and attended Skowhegan and the New York Studio School. A Brooklyn resident, she has taught at Pratt Institute for 35 years. She is represented by Minus Space in Brooklyn.
$2500. Acrylic gouache, ink, graphite on 3/8 inch MDF panel, 12” x 9”, 2020
Artist statement
I translate quotidian language into rule-based abstraction, in works that are diagrams of their own making. My paintings contain lists of words from sources like product labels, instruction manuals, email, street signs, and my to-do lists. On slate-like gessoed panels, I chart columns of writing into grids of pigment and line. This body of work, made at home, is intimate in size. It began on graph paper, when my son was small: while waiting for him to fall asleep, I diagrammed to-do lists and mundane reflections. The ordered process of mapping language allows unexpected color relationships, in configurations that are pattern-like but irregular. The lists and annotations are finally inseparable from the painted structures they create. In documenting and transmuting the fine print of daily life, each panel is a record of observing, thinking, and making.
Artist bio
Leslie Roberts had recent solo shows at 57W57Arts in NYC (2021) and at Minus Space in Brooklyn (2019). She has also exhibited at spaces including the Brooklyn Museum, McKenzie Fine Art, Pierogi Gallery, PPOW, Tiger Strikes Asteroid NY, the Visual Arts Center of NJ, the Weatherspoon Museum (Greensboro, NC), and the Wellin Museum (Clinton, NY.) She has been awarded residencies at Yaddo, Ragdale, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Marble House Project. Roberts has an MFA from Queens College and a BA from Yale, and attended Skowhegan and the New York Studio School. A Brooklyn resident, she has taught at Pratt Institute for 35 years. She is represented by Minus Space in Brooklyn.