Leland Mains is an interdisciplinary artist who specializes in relief and silkscreen printmaking, painting, animation, and mixed media fine art. He is a two-time winner of the CCA Hamaguchi Printmedia Scholarship Award and recently completed a residency as an assistant to master printmaker Courtney Sennish as a part of a project with the Wattis Institute in San Francisco California. Leland has exhibited his work in group shows around the San Francisco Bay Area since 2024, and his work was published in both New Medium Magazine articles 5 and 7, as well as Humble Pie literary journal. Leland is currently an assistant at Justin Caguiat’s Berkeley studio, and is finishing a BFA degree from California College of the Arts in San Francisco.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

My practice involves a combination of visual mediums, primarily painting, drawing, stencil art, screen printing, relief printing, monotype, animation and collage. My work ranges in sizes, from 8x8 inch panels to 26x40 inch canvases. I use a combination of acrylic paint, watercolor radiograph ink and gauche for my painting and mixed media drawings. My prints are done on large pieces of paper, clothes, and large canvases.
My work on the whole has a graphic feel juxtaposed with a high attention to detail. Odd colors, high contrast and meticulous shading are elements found throughout my output. My work is largely figural, and surreal, focusing on people and environments. My work uses a visual language inspired by mysticism, psychoanalysis and alchemy.
The art I produce is a reflection of my life as I've experienced it. The themes of isolation, confusion, struggle, chaos and tranquility are central to my work. I make a conscious choice with my images to combine old and new symbols and styles, elements that contradict. My goal is to create enigmas.