Craig LeBlanc

Artist Statement

I find inspiration for my work in gatherings such as festivals, concerts, large events and even on public streets. The many faces of the people in the crowd draw me in, each one telling their own story. I go to events with eyes open and a camera ready to capture on film what I can later use as source material for my work. Figures that appeal to me become characters in the world of my creation. In a way, I am paying homage to the people that I paint and I hope to capture some essence of us all.
My work explores the tension between the individual and the collective, often through densely populated figurative scenes that invite prolonged viewing. Influenced by both observation and my own creative invention, I build compositions that feel quite familiar but remain nebulous. The environments are intentionally ambiguous, allowing the figures to exist in a kind of suspended reality. It is within the tension between belonging and detachment that my work finds its meaning.