Artist Statement
Phoebe Leech (b. 1999, Yorkshire) is a British figurative painter based in Oxford and London. Her work navigates the tension between concealed and exposed emotion, constructing intimate yet indirect portrayals of the human form. Through her process, she fuses expressive mark-making with psychological depth to explore the complexities of identity and the subconscious.
Leech graduated with First Class Honours from City & Guilds of London Art School, where her practice was enriched through collaborations with photographer Johnathan Williams and painter Justin Mortimer. These experiences deepened her engagement with large-scale portraiture and her ongoing interest in how psychological intimacy can be built through surface and gesture. “Working with other creatives brings my paintings to life,” she notes. “Exploring their inner worlds excites me and grounds the choices I make in my work.”
Her ongoing series Male Domesticity examines contemporary masculinity through a lens of tenderness, labour, and quiet violence. Leech’s debut solo exhibition, Hidden Boys, Open Blue (launching 12 November 2025), expands this inquiry into the unguarded states of boyhood. Inspired by a trip to Cuba, the series captures young masculinity in an exposed light, tracing its playful and unconstrained nature before social awareness takes hold. In works such as Havana Crest and Hotel Dinal, expansive blue skies act as an escape route for what is constructed below, generating a feeling of openness and stillness.
The second half of the series revisits old family photographs of her brother and childhood moments, reimagined through a haze of memory and movement. These works blur the line between recollection and reinvention, transforming personal archive into collective feeling. Through their softness and fragmentation, Leech captures how memory erodes, distorts, and fluctuates between innocence and self-consciousness. Her paintings inhabit a reflective space encompassing vulnerability and shifting emotion, inviting viewers to negotiate what is hidden and to peel back the veiling of human experience.
Phoebe Leech is represented by JD Malat Gallery.
Exhibitions:
- 2024 Salon, Stokey Pop-Up, Stoke Newington High St, London
- 2023 From the Studio, Symes Mews, Camden, London
- 2025 Degree Show, City & Guilds of London Art School, London,
- 2025 Summer Group Exhibition, JD Malat Gallery, London.
- 2025 Hidden Boys, Open Blue, JD Malat Gallery, London.
Artist Statement
Phoebe Leech (b. 1999, Yorkshire) is a British figurative painter based in Oxford and London. Her work navigates the tension between concealed and exposed emotion, constructing intimate yet indirect portrayals of the human form. Through her process, she fuses expressive mark-making with psychological depth to explore the complexities of identity and the subconscious.
Leech graduated with First Class Honours from City & Guilds of London Art School, where her practice was enriched through collaborations with photographer Johnathan Williams and painter Justin Mortimer. These experiences deepened her engagement with large-scale portraiture and her ongoing interest in how psychological intimacy can be built through surface and gesture. “Working with other creatives brings my paintings to life,” she notes. “Exploring their inner worlds excites me and grounds the choices I make in my work.”
Her ongoing series Male Domesticity examines contemporary masculinity through a lens of tenderness, labour, and quiet violence. Leech’s debut solo exhibition, Hidden Boys, Open Blue (launching 12 November 2025), expands this inquiry into the unguarded states of boyhood. Inspired by a trip to Cuba, the series captures young masculinity in an exposed light, tracing its playful and unconstrained nature before social awareness takes hold. In works such as Havana Crest and Hotel Dinal, expansive blue skies act as an escape route for what is constructed below, generating a feeling of openness and stillness.
The second half of the series revisits old family photographs of her brother and childhood moments, reimagined through a haze of memory and movement. These works blur the line between recollection and reinvention, transforming personal archive into collective feeling. Through their softness and fragmentation, Leech captures how memory erodes, distorts, and fluctuates between innocence and self-consciousness. Her paintings inhabit a reflective space encompassing vulnerability and shifting emotion, inviting viewers to negotiate what is hidden and to peel back the veiling of human experience.
Phoebe Leech is represented by JD Malat Gallery.
Exhibitions:
- 2024 Salon, Stokey Pop-Up, Stoke Newington High St, London
- 2023 From the Studio, Symes Mews, Camden, London
- 2025 Degree Show, City & Guilds of London Art School, London,
- 2025 Summer Group Exhibition, JD Malat Gallery, London.
- 2025 Hidden Boys, Open Blue, JD Malat Gallery, London.