Known for her introspective and evocative portraiture, Lanoy’s work invites the viewer into a world where emotion and form intertwine in delicate harmony.
This striking show introduces a new voice in contemporary figurative painting, blending psychological depth, painterly instinct, and a deep sensitivity to the human form.
Leech (b. 1999, Yorkshire), based in Oxford and London, is a figurative painter whose work explores masculinity, vulnerability, and emotional complexity. A graduate of City & Guilds of London Art School, Leech’s practice is marked by expressive gestures and a focus on the body as both subject and metaphor.
In Hidden Boys, Open Blue, Leech uses layers of oil paint to build compositions that evoke intimacy and tension. Her works often feature young boys set against expansive blue skies, with energetic marks breaking through calm surfaces, symbolising trauma and repressed emotion. These contrasts reflect the emotional fragmentation left by childhood experiences.
Inspired by her own experiences and her brother’s struggles, Leech’s paintings capture the tension between youthful freedom and the pressures of growing up. Using photographs taken in Cuba, the figures in her work express both innocence and the looming expectations of masculinity, frozen in a moment before societal norms harden them.
Hidden Boys, Open Blue is a powerful debut, offering an intimate reflection on the emotional landscape of adolescence and masculinity, while establishing Phoebe Leech as a compelling new voice in contemporary art.
