Artist Spotlight: Leslie Adkins

In conversation with Art + Curatorial Advisor Mariana Rivera, Farmboy's Artist Partner Leslie Adkins discusses how she began her artist practice, the narratives driving her figurative pieces that embrace the healing power of nature – particularly for the Black community – and the importance of diverse representation and inclusion in the art world.

Video transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity

Mariana:

Thank you, Leslie, so much for taking this call with us. We're super excited to be highlighting you and your practice. It's great to be connected again.

Leslie:

Thank you! I'm happy to be here.

Mariana:

Well, I think we can start more from an introductory sense about you, your practice as an artist, and how you decided to become an artist.

Leslie:

I've always been kind of like art inclined, even when I was little. But I think the way that schools are, they don't really encourage it that much, at least in the public school that I was in. So I always was like, “I love art class, but it's the easy class.” And so I had shame around that, I think. But then as I grew older, I kept following that ping or excitement, and when I was studying abroad in England in 2009, I was taking some art classes in ceramics and live figure drawing, and I was just like, “This feeling that I have when I'm doing this, this is what I need to be doing.”

So I went back to art school in Chicago – Art and Design at Columbia – and graduated in 2013. But then didn't really commit full time to my artwork until about three and a half years ago just because I [believe] the world needs more people just doing what they're called to do.” And so I was like, “Let me just fully commit and start my artist journey.”

Mariana:

That's great! It's really interesting, that sensation of being committed to what you're meant to be doing and being faithful to your practice.

Leslie:

I would say that experimentation is the number one thing of just trying different things. Even now, as being a painter, I still work with textiles and natural pigments and things like this. I think that's how you find ultimately what you're going to do. I always drew portraits a lot, so I was a little intimidated about painting. But then finally just did it and I was like, “This is great!” And I just started following that muse and it led me to portraiture.

That's really what lights me up and what I enjoy most – having these characters come alive.

I'm inspired a lot by my travels and like the people I meet and I think the first figures I started drawing looked more like me. Like self-portraiture type of things. And then I found characters that were probably deceased, you know, like a vintage photo from a family, that I wanted to explore. Now, I just work with models in nature and really my inspiration is around representation and celebrating Black innocence, but also the nature element is super important that the figures are interacting with nature some form or fashion.

I didn't necessarily want the characters to be super realistic. They're not really abstract figures, but they don't look realistic to the characters that I'm painting and they're kind of deconstructed and expressed a different way. And I think I really want the viewer to develop their own story around the characters. People ask me, “Who is this?” And [I ask them], “Well, who is this to you? What is coming up for you when you're looking at this figure or this character?” So I don't really want it to be hyper realistic in that way.

Mariana:

It's very interesting. It's like you're allowing for the viewer to fill in the gaps when they look at your portraiture and you really see within the abstraction of the figures to maybe recognize someone they know or see features that they've seen somewhere else, and not necessarily be a representation of someone in particular.

ON The Healing Relationship With Nature

Mariana:

I'd like to go back to that aspect of the figures interaction with nature and that relationship that you're portraying. What is your intention in depicting this connection between your figures and nature?

Leslie:

One of the main things in my life is that I have I try to maintain like a deep relationship with nature, whether I'm hiking every day or traveling. I personally have this relationship with nature and I need to be in nature for my mood.

Historically, because of socioeconomic status and racism and other things, there kind of is this exclusionary element within the America, even the national park lands in the rural areas of America. Black people aren't getting that interaction as well as others just because of socioeconomic status and access. But also it's part of our deep rooted history, this deep connection and ceremonial and spiritual connection to nature.

I think even in the media and entertainment, there's kind of this fear mongering about being out in nature alone. And I think some of it does come from like our lynching history. But I feel the need and want that intention to heal that in some way. So I want these figures to be interacting with nature to signal and bring something up in the viewer that they want to that's healing. The healing relationship is the message and and I think we can, as a collective, find a lot of healing in nature, in our personal relationships with nature. And, with the technical and industrial revolution, there's been more and more moving away from that, capitalism and all this, so long answer sure is that, yeah, it's just about having a healing presence of nature in the image, in the composition.

Mariana:

That's really interesting. I think the concept behind it and the history behind it is so strong and deep, but visually, the way that you portray it is also really interesting. Like the the work right behind you of the figure with the moth or butterfly in front of its face. The position and the composition and the proportion of the figure and the moth is really interesting. It's not like the moth is beside it or on top of it. It's really present and part of the figure itself. And it kind of makes you feel like they're both connected and one at the same time. It's really a beautiful way that you're portraying that deep rooted concept in your work And again, allowing for the viewer to make those meanings for themselves. But it's always, you know, a treat to when we get to hear it from the artist directly. And when you explain it, you start seeing it so much more within your work.

Art is super important. People need to have it in their lives and like to think a different way and right now, especially in the climate of America, things need to be disrupted.

The Importance of Representation

Leslie:

People do need to start thinking in different ways. People need to start connecting with things that are different from them. And artists can be a part of that. They've always been a part of that. So I would love for people of color and women to get more space and be more seen in the art world and taken more seriously and paid just as much as a man.

Mariana:

Representation is key to progress, I think in every terms of society and, you know, in the art world especially, and you're definitely doing your part in highlighting, uplifting and representing Black people so beautifully, and with so many layers of meaning behind it that accompany your work. That is what makes it really, truly special and unique. We're very proud to be supporting your work and we can't wait to see what you keep, what you keep making.

Leslie:

Representation is so important. All those little kids out there just need to see people that look like them. That's what changes culture and what changes the future. It's important to elaborate on where we started, with me being in elementary school with art, those early years are so important for people. There's a lot of neurodivergence right now and the way the school system is set up, it's not like people are being encouraged to follow that art and preserve that little artist within them. So I think it's super important for people to just not get too swept up in capitalism and being a worker and having all these things, but follow their curiosity. That's what the world needs right now: following your curiosity, following your muse, and exploring. Just getting out of the rigamarole of what's going on in the world.

Mariana:

It's really interesting that notion of neurodivergence and how much recognition there is around that right now. It's always been there, but now we're actually being able to accept it and recognize it and support it a little bit more each time. And, a lot of artists are neurodivergent. So being able to recognize that and support that and talk about it is also a very important dialog to be having.

Leslie:

If I would have listened and thought that I felt not that smart because I learned a different way or was super visual, I would have never found my way as an artist. I'm like, “Oh my God, 30 something, and I am actually a good artist!” But it was because my brain worked differently. So if you know somebody in your life or you have little kids in your life, just [let them know] it's okay that people learn a different way.

About Being An Artist Partner

Leslie:

I'm definitely honored to be partnered with Farmboy. I’m aligned with [your mission], you're trying to get artwork out into the world on a large scale and in public spaces so that more people can connect. That's definitely what excites me, being in these amazing spaces and having a piece of my artwork there and also working with your in-house designers and see what they come up with. That's all very creatively exciting for me. It's really exciting partnership. I'm super excited to get more work done so that I can see where this goes even further.

Mariana:

Well, we're very excited to be proposing your work to our clients and pushing for your work to be included in their collections. We are big admirers of your work from the beginning. I think what you mentioned about finding alignment and finding both the right projects and the right artists, and how we are aligning with you and your practice and you with our values, we hope that we find that connection to whoever and wherever replacing your work.

You are at this stage of your career that, although you’ve been learning and compiling experience and knowledge for some years now, you are at this point of your career getting more opportunities, more exposure. What is happening for you next in your career? What do you want to happen? Where do you see yourself going?

Leslie:

I am so grateful because I've had some really great opportunities lately and and I try to seize every opportunity if it's aligned, that comes my way. But right now, I just had an opening, and I have three paintings in Chicago at the Museum of Science and Industry, which is so cool to me because I went to that museum as a little girl visiting it on field trips. So I'm super honored to have some paintings there.

And I just finished the L.A. Art Show, which is really fun. I met so many different people and worked with other artists that were awesome. For the near future, I'm really being called to apply to a residency and and go to work on a residency, hopefully in France or somewhere in Europe, just so that I can have a pause where I'm just focusing on our work and I don't have all these other things going on in my life that can make it tricky sometimes to get what I need to get done.

So definitely wanting to take a pause and a work trip on a residency this year, I'd love to take that time to get ready for another solo show and meet people that connect with my artwork is one of my intentions. So just meeting people, continuing to have that relationship I have with nature and my internal life, and then balancing that with making art and getting out there with different shows. So those are my two goals for this year is residency and a solo show.

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