Incubus’ Choice: Close-up on The surreal world and art of Christopher Leach

What message(s) do you want to express through your work?

My artworks have no message as such as I do not even plan the drawings, they just unfold across the page like energetic surreal daydreams. To me when I am drawing well it is like knitting a jumper as the ideas and images just weave themselves together as my libido and imagination does the thinking for me. I find it very exciting that I can draw this way and to me even though I often figure in the works too, it is almost irrelevant what aspect of sexuality the characters in my drawings represent. Artistically I am an uninhibited erotic free spirit that has no sexual preferences as I am neither man nor woman. I don’t really understand it myself but I believe the male figures I create are hermaphrodite lesbian rather than gay or transsexual. But I must control my art to a degree as I leave out all the things that most disgust me like any form of real violence or abuse. The hope for my art is that by creating beautiful images it will not only help break down sexual barriers, I also convey something very personal for others and future generations to share. I am a great lover of Art Nouveau style and over the years I have turned this in to a fetish imagery to frame my little decadent romantic paradise. I am confident that when I am better know people will talk about a “Christopher Leach” in the same manner as a “Beardsley” or a “Mucha” as it will present the same personal unique image. That is my goal.

Which artists inspire you?, who are your masters?

Many, so as well as the more famous here are a few others I like: L.S. Lowry, Marcel Gromaire, Raymond Bertrand, Otto Muller, George Grosz, Ernst Fuchs.
Artists I look up to include: Picasso, Max Ernst, Paul Delveaux, Klimt, Botticelli, Degas, Rembrandt, Edvard Munch.

What have you gained by being on the internet?

The internet is the greatest gift to the artist since drawing. For previously unknown artists like myself it has meant liberation and freedom as no longer is the art world dictated by the whims of a few so called experts and greedy businessmen. Every artist has opportunity and is equal out in cyberspace.

Did the internet enable you to meet new models, to find new exhibit places?

The internet has helped me a great deal as I after visiting my web site I was offered a place at the prestigious Florence Biennale of contemporary art in 2003.

Could you tell us a few words about the place you live/work in?

Stafford, Staffordshire, England. UK

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