Artist: Phoebe Leech

JD Malat Gallery presents Hidden Boys, Open Blue, the debut solo exhibition by emerging British painter Phoebe Leech (b. 1999, Yorkshire). The exhibition introduces a distinctive new voice in contemporary figuration, one defined by psychological depth, painterly instinct, and an unflinching sensitivity to the body.

Leech builds her paintings up in layers, featuring foregrounded young boys against azure skies, with energetic marks bursting through. These interruptions signify trauma and hidden emotion, functioning in the same way the past might impose on a seemingly tranquil present. The murkier layers contrast with the optimism of the clear skies, highlighting a fragmented sense of self that remains after a traumatic childhood.

Her paintings are informed by her journey through adolescence, watching how her brother was trampled by a domineering father. They mirror both siblings’ trauma, one hurting when the other does, and mull over her brother’s process of turning into a man.

Painted from photographs Leech took in Cuba, the boys embody freedom and playfulness. Full of both potential and dread, these paintings ask how we can connect with a softer side of masculinity. They capture a moment of boyhood on the cusp, before her figures are hardened by social and familial expectations of how a man should feel and behave.

Words by Emily Steer