These floral watercolors present another facet to Leanne Shapton’s sprawling subject matter: that of nature’s patterning as it oscillates between order and disarray. Shapton is known for selecting subjects that are within her immediate orbit, and committing herself to extract their essential visual language. Their dark, watery backgrounds lend a memento mori quality, treading a line between isolated still life and patterned field that sprawls beyond the edges of the page.
Leanne Shapton, b. 1973, is a Canadian author, artist, and publisher based in New York City. Shapton’s Swimming Studies won the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for autobiography, and was long listed for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2012. She is the co-founder, with photographer Jason Fulford, of J&L Books, an internationally-distributed not-for-profit imprint specializing in art and photography books. Her works have appeared in various publications such as The New York Times, Granta, and The New Yorker, and she teaches in the creating writing department at Columbia University School of the Arts. Shapton is a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. Her latest book is Guestbook, a collection of short stories.
Watercolor on paper
Unique
