Bio

Gwaylon Leaf is an artist working in a number of different media. He creates paintings using a visual language synthesized from Taoist coded language and talisman. This influence comes from his father who was a professor of art. Growing up surrounded by Taoist philosophy and Chinese art instilled in him a fascination for the calligraphic form. His childhood was punctuated by bi-annual trips to San Francisco where the fog and mist of the bay area created a fascination with that sense of isolation and visual obfuscation the fogs create. He claims that “Growing up eating my noodles with chopsticks gives a unique sense of perspective to the world.”

Being a multicultural person gives Gwaylon a unique perspective to the world. Perceived as being too white looking to be Chinese but too Asian looking to be considered white, reveals to him that most notions of what culture is, is very alienating. With his art he embraces that sense of otherness that experience with his cultures has granted him. He draws from his influence with traditional Chinese artists and mixes that with the aesthetic sensibilities of contemporary western artists such as Cy Twombly and Mark Toby.

As Gwaylon made his way through his undergraduate career at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he created shows with his fellow students and was a recipient of multiple Dean’s Awards from the college of Fine Arts at UNLV. He graduated with bachelors of fine arts degree in 2015 and has worked with non-profit art organizations since. In spring of 2017 he had a collaborative exhibition with his father at Art Space Vincennes in Vincennes, Indiana. He began graduate school at the University of Nevada, Reno in fall of 2017 and continues his studies there until graduation in 2020. Since he has begun his studies at UNR he has received a number of different scholarships and awards such as the Sierra Watercolor Society Scholarship and Second Best in Show in UNR annual juried student show.