Hey,
I’m Leif (Leaf, Layf, Life),from Ladysmith originally, the one in Wisconsin, which is not the end of the world but you can see it from there. Art is life, always has been for me. I paint, write, take pictures of whatever’s along my path, cook/play with food, watch people and animals and plants and rocks and do my best to care for all of them. The path is circuitous and rarely doubles back (although, when I’m lost…). For a long time, I treated my art as an avocation rather than what it was, my raison d’être.
My influences come from far and wide. In my younger days, I admired/studied the works of Basquiat, Picasso, & the Odaawaa-zaaga’iganiing (Lac Courte Oreilles) Indigenous arts as well as words & images from skateboard culture, Jazz, Punk, Phunk, Prince, & Hip-Hop music and graphics/styles; and, as I aged (like a forgotten wine, unexceptional vintage but still drinking relatively well – all things considered), I observed differences in: time & space; justice; fairness; political will in relation to political action; policies promoting and upholding advantage for the most privileged and policies punishing and restricting those who start with little to nothing in the way of capital, voice, & respect; social emotional awareness/intelligence; opportunities and the capacity and ability to exploit them when provided; tax policy and the wealth gap; Zora Neale Hurston, Gordon Parks, Frida Kahlo, Jeffrey Kent, Siobhan Vicens, George Morrison, Devin Allen, and many many more.
