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Although a life-long resident of Washington State, Randal Leek has lived and worked overseas for over 25 years in humanitarian assistance (UNICEF, UNHCR, CARE, Save the Children UK, IRC) in Sudan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Albania, India, Pakistan and most recently in Afghanistan (USAID). He has been the featured artist in Yakima Magazine and his sculptures have been exhibited in the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and in galleries in Edmonds, La Conner, Ellensburg, Cannon Beach, Yachats and Yakima, where he now lives. He received his M.S. Engineering degree from Washington State University. Abstract sculpture has always been an interest.
“My sculptures are intended to have an element of intimacy; to be touched and lived with, and although I have strong political and social opinions, my pieces aren’t expressions of contemporary political values or burning social reform. They don’t intentionally express some aspect of the Human Condition, other than a kind of wonder about this new thing that is unique and beautiful. For me, two things are most important: 1. the physical nature of the material, the type of wood or stone, hardness, coloring, grain texture, etc. and, 2. the abstract form of the final composition. Hopefully, these elements come together to create new inspiration, a new curiosity, to explore and to find something new with each viewing. I want each piece to be lived with in the home or public place; to be dusted off, rotated, relocated, and to find new light to complement their surroundings.”
The inspiration for his work comes from shapes and textured surfaces found in nature, refined in art by precise edges contrasting with the untouched roughness of exposed weathering of forms often found on the shores of Puget Sound and in the forests of the Cascades.
Randal Leek
Website: http://www.yakimaartconnection.com/Randal-Leek-Wood-Sculpture.html
Face Book: https://www.facebook.com/ddleek/
