About

Leon Sadler presents Poltergeist at Syson Gallery as the recipient of the 3rd Syson Gallery prize for the Nottingham Castle open exhibition.

Do you believe in goblins? Have you ever seen a painting fall off a wall, all on it’s own?

“I want to look at things, carefully, all the time, and make a lot of drawings”

Leon Sadler considers the often uncomfortable relationship between domestic space and contemporary art. Embracing the values of the hobbyist, Sadler prioritises graffiti, ceramics classes, watercolour landscapes, scrap booking, biro doodles and fan art in an investigation of what he describes as ‘irrational objects.’ His work can be identified through its own highly personal visual language drawn from the symbols of cartooning, weird packaging and fantasy art tropes.

Sadler describes “the speed and energy expressed in the making of the object revealing ugly and beautiful colours which somehow work together; usually there’s some kind of mischievous face in there helping to achieve a certain uncanny aura or spirit.”

Recent exhibition projects for Sadler have included Bumblebee, a solo show at Hole Of The Fox, Antwerp, Belgium; Install of large scale fabric relief works at Wish Less gallery/store, Tokyo; Stay Fresh, a group exhibition with works by Quintessa Matranga, Yannick Val Gesto and Last Rennaissance (Rafael Delacruz, Alex Moquist, Ian Maberley) at Bebi Space, Antwerp; Bless This Mess, a duo exhibition with Lucas Dillon at So Gallery, Shibuya, Tokyo. 2016; Oblivion Suite, a suite of paintings exhibited at Triple O.G. Gallery, Nottingham.

Sadler is primarily an artist associated with independent publishing, comics and graphic novels and artists books. He is the co-creator of Mould Map, an ongoing project in partnership with Hugh Frost (Landfill Editions). 5 issues have been published so far, with issue 6 as a comprehensive, weekly-changing, exhibition at the Bonington Gallery in Nottingham.

A mischievous presence lurks inside a home, and inhabits unsuspecting objects.

LAUNCH NIGHT: Friday 18:00–21:00

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