Marietta Patricia Leis

There is an ancient Eastern tradition of poetry as an idea of minimal surface texture, with it’s complexities hidden at the bottom of the pool, under the bank, a dark old lurking, no fancy flavor. There is a complexity deep within that context for the reader to ferret out. One must allow to be absorbed by the work not straining to fathom it. This is best done with silent contemplation. Zen says, “…the ideas of the poet should be noble and simple.” So it is that my paintings are noticeably influenced by these concepts. Beyond this I am happily entrenched in the formal properties of the painting process—color, edge, space, form and composition. Paint and painting delight me. The colors shine in magical ways transfusing the surface and each other. I layer them on until I capture just the right note, or rather the music between the notes. My lush surfaces try to capture the elegance I seek and hold the viewer long enough where he/she will probe further. Like poetry, deep listening is fundamental for the viewer of my reductive multimedia art.

Marietta Patricia Leis is an Interdisciplinary artist living and working in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work is widely exhibited nationally and internationally, and she has been awarded numerous grants and honors. Leis’ reductive art extends to photography, painting, drawing, prints, video, poetry and sculpture. She has an MA in psychology and received her MA/MFA in Fine Art from the University of New Mexico. Leis’ art is held in many public collections. Traveling deeply informs Leis’ work, and she has received awards to 15 artist residencies globally. Leis wants her work to evoke a sensory, visceral response: “I think about our planet a lot, so my art is inspired by water, sky, forests, food, air—the intangibles, the vulnerable, the beautiful”.

3-D, Multi-Media, Sculpture