Creator Record
Images
Metadata
Name |
Leland, Whitney |
Dates & places of birth and death |
b. April 12, 1945, Washington DC; lives and works in Knoxville |
Nationality |
USA |
Occupation |
Professor, Dept. of Art, University of Tennessee, Knoxville |
Notes |
For more than five decades, Knoxville-based painter Whitney Leland has specialized in vibrant organic abstractions in which he explores the infinite possibilities offered by a limited set of variables: tendrils of color hovering within spaces of undeterminable dimension. Although appearing spontaneous and boldly gestural, Leland's paintings are created through a slow, deliberate, labor-intensive studio process. After applying precise shapes of wet acrylic pigment onto a flat canvas surface, the artist makes subtle adjustments in pigment density and color juxtaposition. In most cases, he repeats this process several times, adding and sometimes removing pigment along the way, in order to create the desired accumulation of color and form. Leland is one of the earliest graduates of the University of Tennessee's School of Art, and studied with painter Walter Hollis Stevens (1927-1980), a founding member of the progressive art group The Knoxville 7. Leland is a retired member of the School of Art's painting faculty, and maintains an active studio practice in South Knoxville. Leland has achieved a national reputation for his vibrant organic abstractions. For more than four decades, he has explored the process of painting with great discipline by restricting his imagery to a limited set of variables—tangled, symmetrically arranged tentacles of color. Leland is one of the earliest graduates of the University of Tennessee’s art program. |
Titles & Honors |
Memphis Academy of Art, BFA University of Tennessee, Knoxville, MFA |
