Like any good citizen of the world, I wish for peace and prosperity for all. But… for the past few years I have been responding in my paintings to the heightened geo-political tensions here and abroad. I see Danger. I see Hope. Then I see THE TRANSITION back and forth.
"To the casual observer, the work of Leslie Neumann evokes a distinctive paradox. It is both passionate and soothing, powerful and disarming, apocalyptic and transcendent, predictable with an element of surprise. It's a dichotomy of sensations from an artist intent on peering into nature's soul." Lara Bradburn, Tampa Tribune
I moved from New York City, population 8 million, to Aripeka, Florida, a small fishing village with 397 people on the Gulf of Mexico. My home and studio are surrounded by more than 14,000 acres of coastal wilderness. All of this beauty has inspired and influenced me as an artist. Every day I’m engaged by its raw, primitive energy.
I'm a landscape painter, but "landscape" is a loosely applied word; what I end up with is hardly any commonplace landscape.
"Aripeka resident Leslie Neumann is dedicated to preserving Florida’s wetlands, but the wetlands are scarcely recognizable in her color-infused paintings. Instead, they become places inhabited by sorcerers, where swamp grass erupts in flames that appear to have been started by supernatural forces." — Joanne Milani, Sarasota Herald