Leila Watts - Artist Statement

As the content of a drawing lies beyond the constraints of reality, it is able to represent far more than that which is literal. It is a place where real life and fiction can be combined with such conviction that the viewer is able to suspend their disbelief.

Drawings inherently contain a trace of their creator. The human marks should engage and evoke a personal response from the viewer, even if the content does not directly address the human form. I also believe that a sense of the familiar can be gained from inanimate objects and the associations we share with them.

A successful narrative should continue beyond the frame: off the paper and into the imagination of the viewer. A narrative need not be linear in order for it to depict a story: the very existence of more than one object within a frame allows for a narrative to form.

I use negative space to evoke a sense of absence, which acts to acknowledge the infinite realms of possibility beyond the drawing.

Scale has played a significant part in the interpretation of my current work. As I make intricate drawings on a large scale, they bare evidence to the passing of time and depict the process of transformation rather than a fixed outcome. I believe that the versatile physicality of graphite provides an ideal visual language for conveying such a transformation.

The process of animation has allowed me to illuminate small yet significant events from everyday life so that each can be viewed in a continuous state of flux, never quite reaching its conclusion.