Works on paper | les-st-leon

Inside The Whale's Belly

Ink on paper
2016

This body of work brings together a group of modestly scaled works made by the artist from 2016 onward. It is a study and visual commentary on the status of the urban environment. Responding to growing social and environmental concerns that had long been suppressed or overlooked. While the paintings serve as portraits of the modern city, they depart from overt figuration, aiming to create a reflective ground to stand on.

St Leon conveys the densely populated landscape through the guise of abstraction, in which he condense architecture and time. A concrete and steel structures are circumvented by delicate yet complex ink strokes on paper by bamboo-made brushes.

Through this series, St Leon directs his poetic and imaginative sensibility toward the beauty and flaws of the modern cities in order to identify alternative directions that a metropolis could take.

Ink on paper, 16.5 cm x 39.3 cm (6.5 in x 15.5 in)

Ink on paper, 25.4 cm x 50.8 cm (10 in x 20 in)

Ink on paper, 24.75 cm x 31 cm (9.75 in x 12.25 in)

Ink on paper, 19 cm x 24.7 cm (7.5 in x 9.75 in)

Ink on paper, 26.6 cm x 19 cm (10.5 x 7.5 in)

Ink on paper, 27.9 cm x 19 cm (11 in x 7.5 in)

Ink on paper, 7.6 cm x 29.2 cm (3 in x 11..5 in)

Ink on paper, 20.3 cm x 27.9 cm (8 cm x 11 in)

Ink on paper, 17.8 cm x 26.6 cm (7 in x 10.5 in)

Ink on paper, 45.7 cm x 24.7 cm (18 in x 9.75 in

Ink on pape, 33 cm x 12.7 cm (13 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 27.9 cm x 12.7 cm (11 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 21.5 cm x 12.7 cm (8.5 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 26.6 cm x 15.2 cm (10.5 in x 6 in)

Mechanism

Part I

2016

This work seeks to look at increasingly evolving mechanical world, backwards, from the point of view of the future, seeing it through pivotal figures of history, art and science, such as Aristotle in the painting "The Apparition of Aristotle Contemplating The Mechanical Bust of Homer". Exploring the ways in which cultural ideas of the past embody or confront social structures, and systems of value, while challenging the notion of progress itself.The paintings ranging from referential to pure abstraction, invite deliberation on the uncertainty of the human role, and humanity in the wake of digital commerce, robotic manufacturing, and the rise of the technological framework, which emphasize the abstract and capricious nature of value.What will meaning, or purpose look like? What will be the implication on the future philosopher, artist, and seeker?

Ink on paper, 21.5 cm x 12.7 cm (8.5 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 27.9 cm x 11.4 cm (11 in x 4.5 in)

Ink on paper, 40cm x 15.2 cm (15.75 in x 6 in)

Ink on paper, 25.4 cm x 12.7 cm (10 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 38 cm x 16.5 cm (15 in x 6.5 in)

Ink on paper, 25.4 cm x 8.8 cm (10 in x 3.5 in)

Ink on paper, 23.4 cm x 11.4 cm (9.25 in x 4.5 in)

Ink on paper, 34.2 cm x 13.9 cm (13.5 in x 5.5 in)

Ink on paper, 38 cm x 13.9 cm (15 in x 5.5 in)

Ink on paper, 27.9 cm x 11.4 cm (11 in x 4.5 in)

Ink on paper, 49.5 cm x 19 cm (19.5 in x 7.5 in)

Ink on paper, 32.3 cm x 12.7 cm (12.75 in x 5 in)

Ink on paper, 45.7 cm x 24.7 cm (18 in x 9.75 in)

Ink on paper, 27.9 cm x 10.7 cm (11 in x 4.25 in)

Ink on paper, 28.5 cm x 10 cm (11.25 in x 4 in)

Apparatus
Ink on paper
2013

Ink on paper, 24.7 cm x 13.9 cm (9.75 in x 5.5 in)

Ink on paper, 38.1 cm x 13.3 cm (15 in x 5.25 in)

Ink on paper, 38.1 cm x 17.1 cm (15 in x 6.75 in)

Ink on paper, 19.05 cm x 13.9 cm (7.5 in x 5.5 in)

Ink on paper, 38.1 cm x 14.6 cm (15 in x 5.75 in)

Movement
Ink on paper
2011

Balzac, Ink on paper, 33 cm x 12.7 cm (13 in x 5 in)

The Laundress, Ink on paper, 33 cm x 12.7 cm (13 in x 5 in)

The Helper, Ink on paper,

39.3 cm x 8.8 cm

(15.5 in x 3.5 in)

Soul, Ink on paper,

55.8 cm x 10.1 cm

(22 in x 4 in)

The Sower, Ink on paper,

57.1 cm x 11.4 cm

(22.5 in x 4.5 in

Composition No. 5 | Mvt I, Ink on paper,

39.3 cm x 34.2 cm (15.5 in x 13.5 in)

Composition No. 5 | Mvt III, Ink on paper,

35.5 cm x 41.9 cm (14 in x 16.5 in)

Composition No. 5 | Mvt II, Ink on paper, 36.8 cm x 26.6 cm (14.5 in x 10.5 in)

Landscape, Ink on paper, 33 cm x 12.7 cm (13 in x 5 in)

Homage to a Circle
2005

#01, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#03, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#05, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#07, Homage to a Circle,

Ink and Pencil on paper

#09, Homage to a Circle,

Pencil on paper

#02, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#04, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#06, Homage to a Circle,

Ink on paper

#08, Homage to a Circle,

Ink and Pencil on paper

#10, Homage to a Circle,

Pencil on paper

#11, Homage to a Circle,

Pencil on paper