Photo Credit: Carolina Porras Monroy
Leslie Fandrich is an interdisciplinary artist who makes fabric sculptures and photo collages that have been cut up and re-mixed to make absurd juxtapositions. Connecting to the traditions of collage, sculpture, painting and photography, their Newburgh, NY studio practice is also deeply informed by feminist art history. Using clothing and various second-hand fabrics, Leslie uses machines and hand sews tongues, hands and colorful abstract shapes that are both familiar and strange, erotic and grotesque. The work occupies a space between comfort and discomfort, exploring how we may make new wholes from old parts.
Leslie’s work has been included in solo, two person and group shows across the New York and Boston areas, including Material Alchemy at Woodstock Artist Association and Museum, Slant Rhyme in the Kniznick Gallery at Brandeis University, and Strings Attached at the Garrison Art Center. She has been awarded fellowships to attend residencies at Saltonstall, The Studios at MASS MoCA, and the Chautauqua School of Art. Leslie teaches Visual Culture in the Department of Art and Design at Montclair State University and mentors graduate students in the low-residency program at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Leslie received a Master of Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, MA, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Alberta University of the Arts (formerly Alberta College of Art and Design) in Calgary, AB, Canada. She lives in Warwick, NY, with her family.