Solo show at the RICH SIM ART GALLERY at Antelope Valley College
Leigh Salgado’s labor-intensive hand-cut and painted paper artworks revel in themes of desire and resiliency, making use of feminine attire and patterns both natural and human-made as inspiration.
Frills & Fringes includes work completed over a ten-year span, expressing an ongoing interest in subjects and forms associated with her development during girlhood and womanhood. Memories, experiences and various women who have formed her worldview serve as inspiration.
Although Salgado discovered the potential of cutting paper through experimentation during her art practice, the craft of hand-cutting paper has historical and cultural roots in Mexican Papel Picado, Chinese Jianzhi, Japanese Kirigami, and many other cultures. She uses this technique to make works on a single paper that float on the wall while on others she combines cutting, painting and layering to make more traditional works with supports.
Salgado’s art also speaks to persistence in spite of the impossibility of perfection, an appreciation for ornamentation and a deep respect for the actual labor that manifests ideas into concrete objects.