Animals from Memory

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Animal species from around the world are brought together in Leslie Thompson’s drawing, with some of their characteristics and associations inscribed next to them amongst a background filled in with foliage and trees. Thompson has been a practicing artist at Venture Arts studios for over twenty years. He has a developed and distinctive style, drawing both from memory and through live observational drawings.

He often depicts scenes from popular culture from the 1970s to 1990s, taken from his personal memories of film and TV, alongside his experiences growing up in Moss Side in the 1970s. Animals from Memory is based on a trip he took with his late mother in his childhood, conflating both a happy memory of this trip with that of nature programmes.

Leslie Thompson (b. 1970) is a Manchester-based visual artist. His work, produced in collaboration with Venture Arts Studios (an art studio that works with learning disabled and neurodivergent artists) draws on his own memories as well as popular cultural references from the 1970s and 1980s to produce vibrant drawings, most often in ink but also on textile, in ceramic and in paint. While some of Thompson’s drawings allude to his upbringing in Manchester’s Moss Side area, others depict a rich array of flora and fauna or focus on the details of architectural assemblages. Often commissioned to produce live drawings, Thompson has gained a reputation as one of Britain’s most dynamic mural artists. He was commissioned to paint murals in the head offices of Sheila Bird Group (2017) and LADbible (2018) in Manchester; and specialises in capturing events through live drawing, working with DadaFest, Creative Minds North, Hubbub Theatre and Venture Arts. His work has been exhibited widely across the UK, including exhibitions at The Lowry, Salford (2023), Paper Gallery, Manchester (2022) and Project Ability, Glasgow (2017) and, in 2019, his work was exhibited in Tokyo. Thompson’s work is held in private and public collections across the UK.

Places

Subjects

animals, birds & fish

Materials & Techniques

Ink drawing

Artist

Leslie Thompson (1970 - )

Title

Animals from Memory

Date

2018

Medium

ink on paper

Dimensions

height: 59.6 cm; width: 84.0 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from the artist March 2021, through the Art XUK project 2020-21

Provenance

The artist; from whom purchased by UK Government Art Collection, 30 March 2021

GAC number

18974