Fine Artist, Designer

Toby Leon

See my collage art up close

We imagine history into existence every day. Shaping the world around us as we go. And I remake histories with every piece. From a motley crew of tale...s tall and true. A melange of myths, signs and symbols. Every one ripe for my kitsch confections, which could all be legends one day...

Every piece I create is true. Sourced from truth and grounded by it. But never real. Reality's a fiction we're all subscribed to, which doesn't make it any less true. And that's the thing about the truth. Or the past. It moves in both directions. Myriad, in fact. Never sitting still or doing as it's told. Forever questioned, dissected, reframed and upended. Queered and inverted. Packaged and performed. Told, retold, adapted then sold. Evolving, like everything else. Which is why I like to think my art exists outside of time. Reaching for infinity. Not reality. A kaleidoscope of mish-mashed truths, which are only as surreal as we choose to make them...

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  • Images
  • Toby Leon
    Second Homesick
    Some places open up to you right from the start. And my first time in Bangkok was certainly an embrace. It was 2002—not long ago but worlds apart from now. I was 19, preparing for a grand adventure. 10 countries in 3 months—1st time I’d ever travelled solo! I’d scrimped & saved, planned then paid. Ready for anything and terrified of what I might find. Never even considering myself in all that. How my own reflection would tilt & shift in these far-flung latitudes. How could I have known I’d still be friends with folks I met on my 2nd visit to Bangkok? In 2003, en route to London. People I saw every time I visited for 6yr after that. People I still see when I can. People I’ll know until one of us croaks. People that are friends with other friends of mine, looping back to this stream of consciousness with however many degrees of Kevin Bacon you want for breakfast. Bangkok isn’t just my second home. It IS home. As bright and hodge-podge as my bricolage memories of this special place that's changed as much as I have over the years. So very much indeed, and not at all...
    © 2023 Toby Leon