Photography by Leah Oates

Leah Oates has a B.F.A. from the Rhode Island School of Design and a M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is a Fulbright Fellow for graduate study at Edinburgh College of Art in Scotland.  

In Toronto Oates recently had a solo shows at Black Cat Artspace and group shows at the Gladstone Hotel, John. Aird Gallery, Connections Gallery, Gallery 1313, Propeller Gallery, Wychwood Barns Community Gallery , Arta Gallery and at the Papermill Gallery.  

Oates has had solo shows at Black Cat Artspace, Susan Eley Fine Art, The MTA Lightbox Project at 42nd Street, The Arsenal Gallery in Central Park, The Center for Book Arts, Henry Street Settlement and  A Taste of Art Gallery and locally at Tomasulo Gallery in New Jersey, Real Art Ways in Connecticut, Sara Nightingale Gallery in Water Mill, Long Island and the Sol Mednick Gallery at the Philadelphia University of the Arts. Oates has had solo shows nationally at Anchor Graphics, Artemisia Gallery and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago and internationally at Galerie Joella in Turku, Finland.

Oates has been in group shows in NY City and NY state at the Schweinfurth Art Center, Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, Nurture Art Gallery, Metaphor Contemporary Art, Denise Bibro Fine Art, Yale University, The Pen and Brush and at The Center for Book Arts and nationally at Bob Rauschenberg Gallery in Florida, Unsettled Gallery in New Mexico, The Southeast Center for Photography in South Carolina and at Nave Gallery in Massachusetts.   

http://leahoates.com

Photography by Leah Oates

What continues to motivate you to create your work?

What motivates and inspires me to create is art itself, my family and friends, being in nature, traveling, and all the arts -- from the visual arts, music, literature, dance, to cinema, etc. Cities also inspire me more as I grow older.

Who or what influences your practice?

My family and my fellow artists and friends influence me as well as the following artists: Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Man Ray, Basquiat, Francis Bacon, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, David Hockney, Georgia O'Keeffe, Rembrandt, Degas, Velázquez, Turner, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Steichen, Kerry James Marshall, Helen Levitt, Yoko Ono, Diane Arbus, Sebastio Salgado, Robert Frank, Alfred Stieglitz, William Eggelston, Lee Friedlander, Bruce Davidson, Gary Winogrand, and Louise Bourgeois.

Photography by Leah Oates

How would you describe the mood of your work?

Depending on the negative and the locations, some images are mutable or mercurial or joyful. My aim as an artist is to look and see what’s around me and then interpret this visually as a photographic work.  

The Transitory Space series deals with urban and natural locations that are transforming due to the passage of time, altered natural conditions, and a continual human imprint. This series articulates fluctuation in the photographic image and captures movements through time, perception, and space. Transitory spaces have messy human energy that is perpetually in the present yet continually altering. They are endlessly interesting, alive places where there is a great deal of beauty and fragility. They are temporary monuments to the ephemeral nature of existence.

Photography by Leah Oates

What do you feel is the most challenging part of being an artist?

I love being in the studio creating and on location photographing so the creative part of being an artist is never challenging. The more challenging aspects of my artist life is the work, life, and art balance, as there is simply not enough time to “do it all”. As I age this has eased, as I aim to enjoy life with my family and friends as much as possible. As a younger artist I was in the studio everyday, but I had tunnel vision and I would get worn out. I came to understand that for myself as an artist I needed to experience a fuller life to get inspiration to create, so I now have a pretty good work life balance.

Tell us about something from your creative life that you are particularly proud of.

I’m proud and happy to still be creating my work and that I continue to feel passionate about my work as well. I feel a sense of accomplishment to have numerous opportunities to exhibit, to publish my work in journals and in magazines, and to have people who continue to be fans of my work. I’m also proud of Station Independent Projects, which is the gallery that I founded in the Lower East Side and where I organized shows and events for five years. It was a labor of love and I loved running Station Independent Projects.

Photography by Leah Oates
Photography by Leah Oates
Photography by Leah Oates

Leah Oates