Leonardo Anker Vandal

Vandal is a conscientious, multidisciplinary artist. The artist transforms his experiences of personal trauma in his early life into a highly personal and poetic visual language. The process of making art for Vandal is a form of catharsis and the often autumnal colours of his works create a sense of deep and therapeutic serenity. Nostalgia and melancholy permeate the experience of his work which explores solely the unseen and subconscious. Vandal defines his work as ‘a medley of silence’ and an attempt to bring dreams into a form of reality, creating a direct conversation with what the viewer is experiencing. Vandal’s paintings draw the viewer into an inner world, one begun by the artist but left for the viewer, suspended in a moment in time.

‘Painting is a window into the artist’s soul. My paintings are driven from an emotional and very personal state of being. Everything is taken from my past thoughts and feelings, I only paint interpretations’  

Vandal’s ideology is based on the poet Keats’ term ‘negative capability’. He expresses complex ideas using every medium he finds relevant within his reach. He is often drawn to unusual mediums for their symbolic potency. Natural materials such as reeds, earth and tree roots reference both time and the patterns of life, death and decay.