Will McLeod

September 8 - October 4, 2021

Will McLeod was born in 1985 and raised in Charlotte, NC. He received his AAS in fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. While in New York, Will worked in the fashion industry specializing in women’s wear with a focus on design and development. 

Disillusioned by the oversaturation of industry, in 2016 Will pivoted his career so that he could pursue more personal artistic endeavors.  Troubled by the shadow of business looming over the ephemeral quality of Fashion, McLeod figured that if he was going to make things for a living, they should be obviously unnecessary, therefore creating no reason not to make them.

Will now works in two main mediums: paintings on paper, and in textiles.  The paintings rely on pure intuition, while the textiles are expertly designed. Will’s aesthetic ethos is to portray existential friction through his work, and utilizes practices in the studio that mirror this philosophy.

McLeod’s mixed media paintings are piecemeal compositions. Each work is a personal narrative told through a cumbersome but poetic amalgamation of bold stroked shapes. The paintings and drawings are aesthetically reactionary stories told through a balancing act of veiled symbols, shapely gestures, and a hi-low take on color coordination. They are energetic and calming. 

Will’s textiles are designed interpretations of these paintings.  These fabric paintings exude a similar energy to the works on paper, but they have additional technical and sculptural qualities to the compositions. McLeod’s fashion design background lends knowledge of precise material utilization. The textile pieces transcend their paper counterparts and become like soft, stained-glass assemblages.

Will currently lives in Hudson NY, with his husband Kurt and their 2 cats.