In 2022 Saskia Leek illustrated a collection of poems by Lynley Edmeades called Bordering On Miraculous (Massey University Press). The book is rich, evocative and very beautiful. Leek made over forty monoprints, full of movement and gesture and suggestion. Chant Charts, this new exhibition of Saskia’s, builds on the mark-making in these works. But now they are upsized big-time, to a scale never achieved by Leek before. These are big, printed, banner-like paintings. They are uplifting and full of smile. The tool behind their manufacture is absolutely significant to their charm. Leek paints on cut foam, and using it as a press creates marks quickly with terrific immediacy. Dancing on a continuum between chance and child-like twee, it is Saskia’s strong intuition as an artist that holds these works together. Composition is simple but poised, and full of the rhythms of repetition. Colour has a dream-like edge. And whilst some of the paintings exude a sensation of the almost impermanent, each offers, I think, a wishing-well to the soul.
JS