Elsha Leventis

Since graduating from OCAD’s Drawing and Painting program in 2002, Dutch-born Toronto artist Elsha Leventis (nee Brommet) has been inspired by the intricate landscape of the eye. Her work is informed by pointillism, Ken Noland’s circle paintings, Jasper Johns’s targets, and Ross Bleckner’s organic abstracts.

Using a technique adopted from watercolour, Elsha attempts to capture impressions of both the landscape of the iris and the effects of light as seen through the eye. Working playfully wet into wet, she lays down thin washes of oil mixed with mediums on sheets of double-frosted Mylar and then drops in or subtracts paint to capture light effects. Initially, she imposes control but must soon come to terms with letting go as the paint takes on a life of its own. 

Elsha’s work has been exhibited at the Artist Project Toronto and New York, Toronto Art Expo, the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, and the Interior Design Show. Her paintings have appeared in Princess Margaret Hospital’s lottery homes, in design magazines Style at Home and Canadian House and Home, and on design shows on HGTV, including Income Property and the Marilyn Dennis Show. She is a co-owner of RedEye Studio Gallery in Toronto’s historic Distillery District. Her work is in collections around the world.