‘Taboo is something we are not ready for’
– “The Rehearsal,” Eleanor Catton
Jeanine Leclaire makes art about her world as she observes it. This can include creating highly realistic works, using candid photographs as reference material. It can also take a more expressive form, drawing on imagery directly from her imagination. Whether working in a realistic or expressive mode, Jeanine’s art focuses on moments that are part of the everyday lives of her and her subjects. She draws out the emotions of those moments, hinting at the inner lives of the people she observes, as well as what could have taken place immediately before or after that instant.
In her creative life, Jeanine has found joy in the community of artists around her, in Philadelphia. She encourages them to come together to show their work, plan their businesses, and make more art. In the home she shares with her partner, Jeanine hosts Deviant Life Drawing – a not-so-polite life-drawing session. As well, Jeanine devotes part of her time to sharing her accumulated knowledge, teaching classes to artists, novice and expert alike.
As for her artistic career, Jeanine Leclaire has been painting, drawing, printing, and selling her work since she graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2005. Since then, she has shown her work primarily at Rodger LaPelle Galleries, in Philadelphia, and Galeria Côrte-Real, in the Algarve region of Portugal. She has also shown in numerous juried group shows, in a variety of venues, from the State Museum of Pennsylvania, to the Philadelphia Sketch Club.
Jeanine Leclaire 