Ash Leslie | Artist Profile
- Ash Leslie
- 4—21 Dec 2025
Coastal New South Wales–based abstract painter Ash Leslie joins our summer group exhibition, Quiet Tide, with a suite of works shaped by quiet intervals, intuitive gesture and the atmospheres of the shoreline she calls home. After nearly a decade in graphic design, Leslie rediscovered painting during maternity leave with her first daughter, developing a practice forged in the margins of the day – rigorous, intimate and unmistakably her own. “Working intuitively, I lose myself in translucent washes of oil paint, allowing my subconscious to guide me,” she says. “As the impression emerges, I let the piece rest somewhere between recognition and obscurity.”
Themes of motherhood and the natural world ripple gently through Leslie’s paintings, infusing their layered surfaces with tenderness, tension and a searching emotional clarity. Her approach – embracing chance, discovery and the quiet revelation of form – lends each work a drifting, tidal quality that sits in perfect harmony with the contemplative spirit of Quiet Tide. Recognised nationally with finalist selections in the Paddington Art Prize, Flow Art Prize and Signature Art Prize, Leslie continues to establish herself as a singular voice in contemporary abstraction.
Read our interview with Ash Leslie below. For private previews and priority access to works from Quiet Tide, please email sophienolan@michaelreid.com.au
Explore more from Quiet Tide HERE.
How does your Quiet Tide series build on your previous work or point to a new direction for your paintings?
My work usually focuses on the landscape as a whole or from a distance. This body of work has allowed me to focus in on the finer details – to paint more from the perspective of what is within the landscape.
Could you tell us about some of your favourite works from the series?
My favourite work is probably the largest in the collection, Water Sounds for Sleeping. This piece came together with a beautiful ease in just a few sessions. It is named after the white noise I play for my youngest daughter to help her relax and fall asleep, and it features some of her brush marks. I’m also quite chuffed with the discovery of a chance artwork in the piece Moonlight on a Beach Towel, which is made from a studio paint cloth.
Is there a narrative running through this collection of works?
Being around water is a very calming and creative space for me, and is really integral to the way I live my life.
What projects are you looking forward to working on in the coming year?
Hopefully a few working trips to experience different landscapes and time to immerse myself in my practice. I also have a few gallery showings with other artists that I’m really looking forward to.
