Dawn

Is Dawn a woman's name? 

Or it could be the time of day? 

Or is it the beginning of an ill fated romance? 

Could it be all three?

2020 Leslie Peterson Sapp Dawn 33x24

Dawn is based on a vintage photograph, and went through interesting changes. The developmental drawing and the miniature version of this piece is lit from the front and you can see the detail of the car and her face.

 

But when I laid down the paper for that sky, I found her silhouette alone was so riveting it seemed wrong to mar it with detail. This piece screamed “less is more”! So I turned the sun around so it looked like it has just below the horizon behind her. Notice the different shadows in each; one is in front of her, the other behind her. I used subtle paint to put just enough to indicate forms without describing them.

Below is a little bitty video about Dawn, filmed during my opening RiverSea Gallery where I discuss the techniques used to create pattern and effects.

 

Bars

Through the bars of a brass bed, we witness the scene. Yet through the bars, the window exposes the open night sky with infinite space. Perhaps this symbolizes their hearts, their mind? A dream of freedom?

2019 Leslie Peterson Sapp Bars 16x20

This is inspired by a movie scene, but I changed the room, positions and the genders. My original idea was to have the person in the foreground have an ambiguous gender but is didn’t work out, so ah well! Depicting same sex drama intrigue is something I have done a lot of, but this is the most explicit image I have done. My work is set in the past, so the story I have in my head is that these men are forced to meet secretly in a clandestine manner. We view them through the headboard of a brass bed, so that we see the headboard and the footboard. The bed forms series of interlocking bars fencing them in. This is symbolic of the jail societal rules place them in, enclosing and restraining them. Bars is also a reference to drinking establishments, which was one of the only places queer folk used to be able to find one another. 

This is a bitty video where I talk about "Bars" at my opening at RiverSea Gallery. I discuss the inspiration behind the imagery.

Backlight

 Although the man looms large in the picture, the woman seems to dominate somehow. Is the man leaving or just arriving? Is he being sent on an errand of sorts? Is there an agreement between them, or is this a confrontation? There is a sense of urgency- is it inspired by passion or fear?

2019 Leslie Peterson Sapp Backlight 38x48

There are two previous versions of this general image entitled Egress and Egress II

In this video I discuss how I developed all three from the original inspiration from the classic film noir "Nightmare Alley" through several sketches, to multiple complete images.  

2017 Leslie Peterson Sapp Egress 16x20

2017 Leslie Peterson Sapp Egress II 38x48