This new-found spontaneity shines in Leonie’s personal series, Streetlook. Here, Leonie works from snapshots of people she’s spotted on the street, but rather than focusing on identifying features, like faces, Leonie zones in on their style, finding particular expression in the layering of accessories, like cross-body bags, jackets and chunky scarfs. Fast-paced and energetic, through the drawings Leonie aims to demonstrate friction between abstraction and representation. “The fact that I prefer to depict them anonymously doesn’t mean I’m not personally invested. Faces or hands are just so dominant, they immediately give away the image,” she says.
Outside of her practice, the transition toward drawing people was also instigated by events in the illustrator’s personal life; namely, seeing loved ones suffer from mental illness. “Before, my approach was always quite down-to-earth and rational, which fits in well with an architectural theme,” Leonie says. “With everything happening in my personal life, and, well, the world catching fire, the reappearance of the human figure in my work feels quite timely.”
on Leonie Bos
