Horizons | Emily Legleitner
Horizons | Emily Legleitner
Artist Statement
Horizons features two bodies of work in tandem: One, a series of portraits documenting self-empathy, the other of objects in abundance addressing contradictory emotion and confusion. Both series consider moments of great transition and associated complex emotional responses. My current studio research centers around themes of home, domestic space, labor, and unfulfilled dreams. I am considering the ways in which these spaces are often accompanied by contradictory feelings: home as a space of comfort and confinement, labor as a motivator and a distraction, dreams as experiences that can both fulfill and disappoint. My imagery is largely informed by portraiture and body play, as I use the body and props to perform in front of a camera. I investigate visual language through lens-based inquiry, combining digital imagery with scanned drawings, rubbings, misprints, and studio ephemera. In this way, my creative methodologies dance between the digital and analog realms of making, allowing for a certain distance to develop between personal narratives and the work itself. This distance invites the audience to imagine their own narratives within the work, while still influenced by the personal stories I am illustrating, and therefore creating a unique space to foster empathy.
Artist Bio
Emily Legleitner is an MFA candidate in Printmaking at the University of Alberta. Originating from Flint, Michigan, Legleitner works within the expanded fields of print media, fibers, and metalworking. Her printed imagery is informed by lens-based inquiry, performance, and the body. She received a BFA from the University of Michigan. Her work has garnered critical acclaim throughout the Midwest and East Coast United States, winning first prize at "2021 Prints,” Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Gallery (BWAC); Best of Show in 2020 "Body Building: Art of the Human Figure,” Indianapolis Art Center; and Best of Show in the 2019 "Michigan Greater Artists Exhibition,” Midland Center for the Arts; among other awards. Her work has exhibited in numerous acclaimed print shows and been published in the London based print journal Printmaking Today (2018). Legleitner’s most recent work has shown in solo exhibitions at Sager Reeves Gallery (Columbia, MO) and Buckham Gallery (Flint, MI). She has an upcoming solo exhibition at BWAC (Brooklyn, NY) in July 2022.
Horizons features two bodies of work in tandem: One, a series of portraits documenting self-empathy, the other of objects in abundance addressing contradictory emotion and confusion. Both series consider moments of great transition and associated complex emotional responses. My current studio research centers around themes of home, domestic space, labor, and unfulfilled dreams. I am considering the ways in which these spaces are often accompanied by contradictory feelings: home as a space of comfort and confinement, labor as a motivator and a distraction, dreams as experiences that can both fulfill and disappoint. My imagery is largely informed by portraiture and body play, as I use the body and props to perform in front of a camera. I investigate visual language through lens-based inquiry, combining digital imagery with scanned drawings, rubbings, misprints, and studio ephemera. In this way, my creative methodologies dance between the digital and analog realms of making, allowing for a certain distance to develop between personal narratives and the work itself. This distance invites the audience to imagine their own narratives within the work, while still influenced by the personal stories I am illustrating, and therefore creating a unique space to foster empathy.
Artist Bio
Emily Legleitner is an MFA candidate in Printmaking at the University of Alberta. Originating from Flint, Michigan, Legleitner works within the expanded fields of print media, fibers, and metalworking. Her printed imagery is informed by lens-based inquiry, performance, and the body. She received a BFA from the University of Michigan. Her work has garnered critical acclaim throughout the Midwest and East Coast United States, winning first prize at "2021 Prints,” Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Gallery (BWAC); Best of Show in 2020 "Body Building: Art of the Human Figure,” Indianapolis Art Center; and Best of Show in the 2019 "Michigan Greater Artists Exhibition,” Midland Center for the Arts; among other awards. Her work has exhibited in numerous acclaimed print shows and been published in the London based print journal Printmaking Today (2018). Legleitner’s most recent work has shown in solo exhibitions at Sager Reeves Gallery (Columbia, MO) and Buckham Gallery (Flint, MI). She has an upcoming solo exhibition at BWAC (Brooklyn, NY) in July 2022.
