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Renew Participants: Leadbeater Studio & Gallery

1 / 63 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda

Visual Art | Studio | Gallery

Artist Steve Leadbeater has exhibited his work since the early ‘90s, and has been drawing his whole life, keeping him out of trouble while growing up in the suburbs. His work is driven by contrasts – identity and anonymity, sensitivity and brutality, spirit and form.

Steve says about his process:

“When I’m creating I get lost in a ritual of the senses. I see flashes of shapes and colours, it’s like music is passing through me, the aromas of paint and incense hang in the air, I sip tea and I feel surfaces and materials collide as marks are made. I’m always trying to capture and share that energy.

A work isn’t complete until someone else has seen it, and hopefully felt it. Although I have a reputation for polarising audiences with dangerous work, I’m not out to shock. I’m out to connect.

I’m grateful to both the supporters and opposers of my work. Without them my practice wouldn’t be the cathartic experience I continually crave.”

You can see Steves work on his open studio days and purchase prints, framed works, t-shirts, and have a rummage through drawings large and small.