BRIAN LEACH
Brian Leach is an individualist: his visual language and his life are the product of what cannot be taught in the classroom. Leach had a tumultuous young adulthood after college, often finding himself at odds with the law. He leads a very different lifestyle now, but his distrust of the establishment and instinct to thwart prescribed structure continues in his work. In many works, calligraphic script weaves in and out of Leach’s imagery, and reveals a quirky narrative, urgent impulses or forlorn musings. Reptilian legs wind around human body parts. Leach uses pencil and India ink in a variety of colors, and these drawings boast intensive line work. Leach is devoted to tattoo art, and is inspired by traditional Japanese and Western tattoos. Lions and tigers à la Sailor Jerry (the renowned tattoo artist and a major influence) stare into rendered stairs that lead nowhere, and tessellations vanish into infinity.