Lesley Thiel is an international award winning, figurative artist known for her highly detailed surrealistic and photorealistic paintings. Working in oils, she focuses on highly symbolic narrative pieces designed to tell a story of our relationship with the earth and the future of our species. She seeks to impress upon the viewer the interconnectedness between humanity and the natural world, whilst also trying to describe the multilayered complexity of our environment. Her paintings centre around young women as natural beings, and the female voice in society.
Lesley’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions, including at the Museum of Modern European Art (MEAM), in Barcelona; Bantierra Palace, Zarazoga; Einaudi Palace, Turin; Sotheby’s, New York; Wassau Museum of Contemporary Art; The Mall Galleries, London; The Salmagundi Club, New York; Zhou B Art Center, Chicago. Her work has been sold at auction at Sotheby’s in New York. She has been in receipt of awards from the Art Renewal Center, International Guild Of Realism, Portrait Society of America, and International Artist Magazine. Her work is part of both the Art Renewal Center Collection and the Bennett Collection of Women Artists. Born in England, she now lives and works in Ireland.
"Lesley gives us a piece of existence, of hope, of dreams, of desires – all encapsulated in her art work. Intrinsically stating the obvious that is commonly mistaken for acceptance and normality. Her art has the power to devour you with an insatiable hunger, with a need to recognize the purest form of human existence, the call for truth, for innocence, to revert to that state of mind where all was fine, all was good, all was perfect…because you knew no better. But it’s a better that can be achieved with a collective attitude of care, of hope, and of love. Lesley’s art works penetrate your subconscious knowingness, distracting your current reality, throwing you back to what you and I want. To bring out the child within, with no restrictions or inhibitions, with no ill intentions, with the purity only a child can contain." Artmoire