Leah Biggs
“Her black and white world speaks of simplicity and containment, while stylistic details speak of an artist who has a handle on their own core aesthetic values.”
— Sandra Botnen, curator
“I always draw my hand and feet slightly larger than they should be,” she says, “and I like to place certain object very close to the border because I like the tension.”
Day 26 introduces Leah Biggs and her charcoal and ink drawings. I have always loved the power of black and white which is why I am drawn to her work. Film noir inspired images allow Biggs to draw many of her favorite objects like old rotary telephones, typewriters, radios, suitcases and record players. It’s a joy to talk to her about her art making process and find out we share a love of thrifting. “I don’t buy things online though. I much prefer going to actual thrift stores and fully engaging in the hunt for vintage things with true personality,” she says. She laughs at herself as she tells me about her love of old suitcases. “I got rid of one once but then really regretted it,” she says.
Biggs other regret is not having a larger body of work right now, because she is eager to have a show. She is working towards it, but the large charcoal works take a long time and more recently she has been slowed down by a bout of arthritis. She has alternatively, diverted much of her attention to producing a number ink drawings for sale. She refers them affectionately as, “my inks”, the most popular being her telephone drawings. “I always liked to talk on the phone, but it just seems part of a different era now,” she says. Personally, I had never thought that, for all the time we spend staring at our phones, we are rarely actually talking to people. But Biggs images imply actual conversation and therefore narrative - the way the woman grips the receiver so tightly, you can only wonder what was just said.
I love the ink drawings for their dexterity between abstraction and realism. My favorites depict a stack of Bigg’s beloved suitcases. I would have a hard time choosing between the more figurative and the abstract. I think what I like most is the theme and variation study of two, or three, of them side by side.
Another reason film noir is such an inspiration for Biggs is her love of shadows. “When I stage these objects, I set them up with a flood light against a white carboard back-drop. I make fun compositions where I see personality of the objects in their shadows too.” For Biggs it is all about form and personality. “I see color as a distraction,” she says.
Her black and white world speaks of simplicity and containment, while stylistic details speak of an artist who has a handle on their own core aesthetic values. “I always draw my hand and feet slightly larger than they should be,” she says, “and I like to place certain object very close to the border because I like the tension.”
Behind her in her studio hangs the canvass she is currently working on. I detect an added layer dimension, curiosity and relevance in the work. The image is modern and effortless. A figure wearing jeans and sneakers, lays on their back, talking on the phone. The top half reclines outside the frame, directing our focus on the telephone cord, twirled around the finger. The story is relaxed and unassuming but the figure - presumably today’s teenager talking on an old rotary phone – staging a situation that is more or less an impossibility. She brings into question that which now may be lost on a new generation - the art of conversation.
As I wrap up my 26th interview I am touched by this image, how much I value a good conversation, and how this artwork is a great reminder of how we need to maintain friendships and find time to enjoy sharing ourselves with one another.