(ARTKC365) A Marvell-ous Collection: Leslie Norman Hubble
"World Enough and Time," Acrylic on Canvas.
Leslie Norman Hubble
8 a.m.-11 p.m.
Westport Coffeehouse
4010 Pennsylvania
Kansas City, MO
816.756.3222
Hours: 8 a.m.-11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-midnight. Friday, 10 a.m.-midnight Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Sunday
Runs through: Jan. 31.
Gallery site: http://westportcoffeehouse.com
In the arts — visual, performing, literary, culinary, even martial — there are two ways to produce a work.
In some cases, it's a process of reduction: cutting away wood or marble to reveal the sculpture within, perhaps, or using a camera to snip out and preserve a bit of vision.
More often, though, it's a construction project. The artist collects, arranges and sometimes combines prosaic components — movements, ingredients, words, musical notes, paint, fiber, molecules of molten glass — to produce a whole that exceeds the sum of those parts.
Leslie Norman Hubble — poet, painter, pianist and more — works in tones across a spectrum far wider than the merely visual.
At an early age my mother insisted that I do what she called “handwork,” she writes, and ever since I have been compelled to transform things and ideas and the everyday detritus of life into personal aesthetic constructs — be they paintings, words, drawings, collage, sculpture, and combinations thereof.
I choose what might seem disparate objects in which I discover a relationship after. I stage them until they resolve or at least rearrange disorganization. Shadows sometimes become major actors-- me, audience. I might choose a palette completely different than on the "stage" or tweak or try to tweak what's there.
Shadows play key roles in the acrylic paintings that make up Hubble's portion of this month's group show at Westport Coffeehouse. And in keeping with her penchant for working with a palette which includes the felt as well as the seen, those shadows are often emotional as well as visual.
Take World Enough and Time, today's featured piece. Even the title is shaded with meaning, being taken from the first line of Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress."
Add in the camera, the watch, the cut flowers, and the deepest shadows in the painting are cast not by the objects in it but by one realization: We don't have time. Time has us, and it's hungry.
Hubble will not go gentle, though: She's going to get in all the life and beauty and joy she can. It's fitting, then, that she should have the last words on the subject:
I love the visceral quality of any work of art, she writes. I love that there are so many possibilities, so many ways to make things, so much to hear, read, look at. So little time, so: Do. Just do — and dance with it all.
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fabulous Leslie! Fabulous!
fabulous Leslie! I love the comment about Nana!
It's good to know that after all these years, you haven't put your brush down. As artists, we owe it to the world to share our thoughts, or views. Congrats on your review.
At first glance this painting seems to deliver a dark and sinister message, but as you study this work of art further it seems to convey the prospect of hope and sunnier days to come. What particularly intrigued me was the attention to detail to the flowers and the camera, but the lack of a face, intentional or otherwise, on the watch. To me, the beauty of painting, as in this piece, is that the artist can capture what's in her mind's eye, not the precision that comes through the lenses of a camera. Hubble obviously has talent. I hope to see more of her work in the future.
Leslie is a unique woman...and it shows in her wonderful works of art!
In your life, you have had 3 strong women to guide you, Deane, Madee, and Aunt Ikie, I know they are really proud of you. And I am also very proud of you. I just love your work and I hope to see more of it. I love you!!
I'm so proud of you, Sister. What gorgeous painting. I'm hungry for more.
Wonderful work Leslie! Can't wait to see more!
Had the privilege of seeing Leslie's work at the coffeeshop and t see her continued growth as an artist. Am looking forward to the day she has a show of her own so everyone can see the depth and breadth of her work.
I have always enjoyed your work. Your palette always speaks volumes. And like RTC looking forward to your own show.
Leslie, I love your work because I know you, hence I appreciate your work's intensity and deeper meaning.
So very happy to see your wonderful work and hope to see more! Just as impressive as your poetry.
Love you dearly. Let me know, in advance, when you have your own show so I can be there to see it.
I have always told you you are wonderful. Your mind is so very creative that it explodes with emotion in your art to show your soul, which is stunningly beautiful.
Leslie, your work is amazing. I wish I were there to see it in person--and for us to have a cup of coffee and chat over it all!
Thank you so much, ReK. Who are you?