Leaf (2008) Painting by Leonard Aitken

Leonard Aitken has been painting for 30 years. He has a love for all types of art, music, literature and film. Lenny (as he prefers to be called) prefers to paint realistic and surrealistic works. The natural world around him is his first inspiration, but most of his work is transformed by a prodigious imagination. His output is prolific and doesn’t confine itself just to painting but also music (composing, playing piano), writing (stories, poetry), film and animation. “I get easily bored doing the one thing all the time. I need constantly to experiment, use different mediums and explore different genres.” Usually he has about 20 paintings “in progress” at once, while simultaneously working on various musical, writing and animation projects. His paintings are usually built up in many layers of stains and glazes, although he is not averse to using impasto. Some of his paintings have been described as resembling "animation stills"; and his animations as having the quality of "paintings come to life".

• Nationality: AUSTRALIA
• Date of birth : 1961
• Artistic domains:
• Groups: Contemporary Australian Artists