Leanne M Christie’s studio is on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and Sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Leanne M Christie’s paintings are a testament to her powerful brushwork and her sophisticated manipulation of the oil paint medium. As an urban oil painter, Christie is fascinated by the idea that our memories are inextricably linked to the anchors in our environment and that as these anchors disappear through development, our memories fade with them and inevitably, we forget to remember. Christie’s work is a witness to the environment that witnesses our lives.
Christie’s paintings can best be described as recordings of the conversations she has with her medium and her environment. Through her abbreviated marks, Christie invites viewers to engage with her work and to complete the conversation themselves through their own experiences and memories. Her work transforms oil paint from an inert substance into a powerful living language, allowing her to communicate complex themes and ideas.
Christie’s unique approach to painting is both thought-provoking and emotionally resonant. By exploring the relationship between our memories and our environment, she challenges us to consider our own experiences and how they shape our understanding of the world around us. Christie captures the essence of urban life in all its vibrancy and contradiction, creating works that are both visually stunning and intellectually engaging.
Christie paints full-time in her Vancouver studio and, when not accompanied by her PADS puppy in training, her 50km cycling commute from her home in Coquitlam, gives Christie an intimate kinship with the flow of the urban streets. The unrehearsed transitory moments provide an abundant source of her paintings.
Born and raised in South Africa, Christie moved to the Canadian West Coast in the late 2000s after a period of 10 years abroad that had originated as a 2 week holiday after the completion of her Bachelor of Fine Art from Rhodes University, Makhanda in the Eastern Cape.
‘Leanne M. Christie is a contemporary Vancouver landscape painter. Reductive and flirtatious brushwork entices the viewer to regard the familiar with a new vision. Christie’s treatment of everyday landscapes transform city streets and shipping containers into an ephemeral scene with a temporal essence, notated by her careful and suggestive brushwork. Christie’s hand suggests rather than commits to imagery, creating an illusory and seductive space to be drawn into again and again.’
– Van Dop Gallery –