Leslie Kneisel
Bio
Leslie Kneisel grew up in Virginia and Mississippi during the 1960s. She received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Georgia and Georgia State respectively. Her first degree enabled her to teach art in the public school system and the next to teach as an adjunct professor in printmaking, drawing, and painting. In 2000, when she finally learned her lessons in futility from the academy, Kneisel changed her profession to full time artist. She has written reviews for a national art magazine, curated a national exhibit, presented lectures, served on boards, and participated in artist residency programs both in the United States and Britain. Since 1985, Kneisel has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, and is represented by Jancar Gallery in Los Angeles as well as AIR Gallery in New York. She currently lives and works in Atlanta where her soon-to-be rebuilt dream studio is located.
Artist Statement
Essentially, I think of myself as a feminist surrealist. At least that is what a fellow artist said to me one time and I decided I agreed. And pornography has been a hot topic (pardon the pun) for feminists for decades. So I decided it is a wonderful arena to satirize and spoof. Since transgression and subversion are/were popular tactics of that movement. There is something very desperate, frantic, comical, and life-and-death about the mating habits of tarantulas. So they became my vehicle. And I am a fan of R. Crumb, misogynistic as his work is. Yes, I know, my tendencies are noticeably paradoxical, but aren't most artists? And I wanted to stitch my drawings in a comic style to further the notion of the absurd. Why upholster them to create soft sculpture objects that are non-functional? I think it is because then they have a level of primness that contradicts the subject. To sort of "be nice," I pretend to play by the rules by doing what I damn well please. It's a southern thing.
I begin with a tonal drawing on paper after looking at a lot of source material and my own photographs. Very simple-usually just graphite on paper. Then I put tracing paper on top of the drawing and reinterpret the tonal rendering into a linear drawing. This is then transferred onto a fabric I have selected or perhaps I will digitally print one of my photographs onto fabric first before tracing the drawing onto it. Now the fabric is ready for the embroidered lines. This is all hand done and requires a lot of hours. I use the standard embroidery hoop which I hold. When I am satisfied with the work I visit my friendly upholsterer and discuss the fabrics, frame size, shape and other considerations-just as one might with a fine art framer. The process is extremely tedious and time-consuming but for some reason I really enjoy it.
