Falling Leaves, 2023

Grant Leier  

Born in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan in 1956, Grant Leier studied at the Alberta College of Art in Calgary before honing his skills at the Illustrator's Workshop in New York. In addition to studying illustration, Leier is a skilled painter and is known for his work on textiles.

Leier has had numerous solo exhibitions in Canada and California, with her paintings, textiles and assemblages featured in major group exhibitions in public and private galleries. Her work is represented in numerous private and corporate collections, including the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Public Archives of Canada and Chevron Canada. Leier currently lives and paints in Ladysmith, British Columbia.

Grant Leier once compared himself to a crow that begins to collect the most beautiful and colorful objects it can find. His whimsical and wondrous artwork is technically perfect and his sense of design is complete. His love of pattern and mastery of the hand make him a master of illustration. This, a keen wit and a quirky sense of humor combine to create works that titillate and excite the viewer.

By combining found objects, strange photographs and other images with a symphony of patterns and drawings, Leier assembles his images and ideas by painting and drawing them together in a narrative framework. Monkeys or people or even fruits and flowers intertwine in a world that is both fantastical and real. He takes his everyday life and creates his playful realms full of beautiful colors and shapes for himself and his viewer.

The combination of design, bright colors and interesting images excites the viewer and causes them to react to the works in a positive and joyful way. Leier works with bright and bold acrylics with festive and decorative colors often framing the works with ornamental drawing patterns. These works are flamboyant expressions of fabricated realities. These often sentimental recreations can arouse nostalgia in the viewer and sometimes embellish memories of a bygone era.

Leier directs, poses the actors and tells his story and the sets are always sublime.