BIOGRAPHY

Born in Preston, Lancashire in 1972, Ben studied Fine Art at Lancaster University, specialising in painting and drawing. He gained his BA degree in 1996. After further studies in Theology and work with students in the London area, he settled in the Lake District in 2002. Much of his work has been influenced by this move and the effect of being surrounded by and immersed in the natural landscape

Artist Statement

My work is heavily influenced by the surrounding landscape of wherever I am. Be that in the Kent Estuary or the wider English Lake District, North Wales, Spain, South Africa and Lesotho or Scotland as examples. I paint as a response to living, working and walking in the landscape. I often compose my paintings with thick, textured paint - loosely applied. I wish to convey a sense of place, and the physical process of mark-making I employ is an engagement with the environment around me. After sketches and photographs used as reference I prefer to paint and draw quickly and instinctively. My work is a visual diary, a desire to capture a sense of the vitality and living quality of the landscape around me - a response to knowing what it is like to be in the landscape - a personal response to seeing and feeling the effects of the light and weather. My art is not a complete rejection of Modernist ideology from my undergraduate studies, but essentially I paint because I want to paint. The formal qualities of my painting and drawing is important - an aesthetic in response to the aesthetic of the environment around me


Witherslack Artists and Makers Group:

Mixed

Witherslack, Cumbria

The Lake Artists Society:

Summer Exhibition 2023

Grasmere

Graystone Gallery:

Mixed

Edinburgh

Heriot Gallery:

Mixed

Edinburgh

John Davies Gallery:

Mixed

Moreton-in-Marsh

The Lake Artists Society:

Summer Exhibition 2021

Rheged, Penrith

John Davies Gallery:

Solo

Moreton-in-Marsh

The Lake Artists Society:

Summer Exhibition 2019

Grasmere

C-Art:

Mixed

Throughout Cumbria

Brewery Arts Centre:

Solo

Kendal

Storey Institute (alumni guest):

Mixed

Lancaster

Open Up North:

Mixed

Brewery Arts, Kendal

Lawrence Batley Theatre:

Solo

Huddersfield

Signature Gallery:

Solo

Kendal

Brewery Arts Centre:

Mixed

Kendal

Ben McLeod is represented by the following galleries:

COOKHOUSE GALLERY

4 Grosvenor Terrace

Bowness-on-Windermere

Cumbria

LA23 3BS

 

www.cookhousegallery.co.uk/crafts


COURTYARD GALLERY

32 Boroughgate

Appleby in Westmorland

Cumbria

CA16 6XG

 

www.courtyardgallery.co.uk


JOHN DAVIES GALLERY

The Old Dairy Plant

Fosseway Business Park

Moreton-in-Marsh

Gloucestershire

GL56 9NQ

 

www.johndaviesgallery.com


OCG ARTS

Market Place

Ambleside

Cumbria

LA22 9BU

 

www.ocg-arts.com