Art in the Community presents Leonid Rozenberg: Fairygrams
Artist Feature:
Born in Ukraine in 1965, Leonid Rozenberg moved to Canada with his family in 1979. The arts education that he began in his home country, was something he continued to pursue in Canada. He obtained a graphic design degree from Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario) in 1988, and since then has practiced art and design for more than thirty years. Leonid had numerous exhibitions in Canada and United States of America (in cities such as Toronto, Montreal, New York). His art and design work can be found in several private, corporate and public collections, including Toyota Canada Inc. and the Royal Academy of Arts in London, UK. After living in Ontario for twenty years, Leonid now calls North Vancouver home, where he is a member of Seymour Art Gallery and teaches art and print making classes for North Vancouver Recreation and Culture Commission. Leonid has been a member of North Van Arts since 2011.
Through the use of drawing, painting, print making, photography, and digital media; Leonid often explores the surreal side of nature in his work. As part of the Art in the Community program for North Van Arts, he will be exhibiting work from his Fairygrams series, a collection of pieces loosely based around his “Super Nature” theming. Fairygrams is a series of mixed media works he has been developing since the early 1990s. His practice is influenced by various histories of art, psychology, and folklore. The artist chooses found images, usually sourced from public sites like newspapers or on social media, electronically altering them to his liking. Afterwards he prints the arrangements on acid-free paper, adding details in oil stick, paint, and graphite by hand. Leonid implements techniques like finger painting, smudging, and stencils in his work as a way to echo traditional colouring and printing processes.
Fairytale: a children’s story (a morality tale) involving magical and imaginary beings and environments.
Telegram: a message sent by telegraph and then delivered in written or printed form. (ORIGIN mid-19th century: from tele- [at a distance] + -gram 1, on the pattern of telegraph.)
Fairygram: a snapshot delivered from the realm of collective unconscious.
Instagram: @leonidr65
Image: Leonid Rozenberg, Path Illuminated Detail, 2024, canvas print, 20″ x 20″