Photo © The Blade

Leslie Adams

"Leslie Adams, because of her talent and love of drawing, is clearly the most gifted young artist to have come to the Graduate School of Figurative Art of the New York Academy of Art."

This bold statement made in 1992 by acclaimed artist and professor, Edward Schmidt, comments not only on the work of Leslie Adams but also on her passion for that work. In 1990, Leslie received the Grand Prize in the International Drawing Competition sponsored by the Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and was awarded the prestigious Warhol Scholarship to attend the Academy tuition free. While in New York, Leslie studied with leading figurative artists including Vincent Desiderio, Eric Fischl, Jack Beal, and Xavier de Callatay. In addition to her excellent academic background, she refined her skills through further work with Patrick Betuadier, director of the Atelier Neo Medici in France. During the last decade, the demand for Ms. Adams’ work has been focused largely on commissioned portraits and murals.

Leslie’s intention in portraiture is to create enduring works that are grounded in historical aesthetics and contemporary theory. She employs a Northern Renaissance technique, similar to that used by Van Eyck, that combines layers of oil glazes to achieve a profoundly intricate level of detail and greater luminosity of color than direct painting alone can achieve. Through both inspiration and technique, Adams creates works that invoke timeless realities in which past and present simultaneously exist - works that transcend portraiture.

Beyond purely capturing the likeness of the individual, the paintings of Leslie Adams possess truth. By responding to the character, the essence, and the spirit of those she paints, her portraits reflect the honor and dignity of a corporate officer, the innocence and curiosity of a child, or the strength and beauty of a woman. Sally Vallongo, Senior Arts Editor of the Blade, writes, "Leslie Adams' pristine portraits of women have the precision of a Leonardo portrait yet seem to glow with a delicacy that is unmistakably feminine." Many that have studied the work of this artist echo these thoughts.

Ms. Adams' work has been exhibited internationally and is included in numerous public and private collections in the United Sates and abroad. Leslie’s portrait, Athena, was included in the American Society of Portrait Artists’ Foundation 2001 International Portrait Exhibition at the Art Students League of New York. Her work has also been recognized by many museum curators and historians including Beth Venn, Associate Curator of the Permanent Collection at the Whitney Museum of American Art, MaryAnn Wilkinson, Curator of Twentieth Century Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, and Britta Konau, Curator of Contemporary and Modern Art at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Click here for commission Terms and Conditions

Click here for full Resume

All images on this site copyright to the artist © 2007 The Brigham Galleries
This site is maintained by Robert Foster.