© Iana Ferreira
Jorge Leal (1975) is a Portuguese visual artist working between Lisbon and Caldas da Rainha. He has a drawing PhD by the Faculty of Fine Arts, Lisbon (2017). Leal is a drawing researcher at CIEBA/FBAUL, Lisbon and LIDA/ESAD. He teaches drawing at ESAD, Caldas da Rainha and Nextart, Lisbon.
Leal exhibits regularly since 2005 in museums, art galleries and independent spaces. Since 2012, his work is centered on drawing. His work is autobiographical but he doesn’t care for narrative. Leal’s focus is on the record of everyday life, landscape, bodies, animals and everything that has a potential to being drawn. His drawing is fast and energetic, on the brink of being abstract, with the integration of writing as a way to expand meaning. As a complement to drawing, in recent years he has developed videos based on animations of drawings using stop motion technique and small-scale sculptures in plaster and 3D printing. He participates in Artist in Residency programs regularly.
His practice starts mainly with sketchbook drawings during long walks or hours spent at crowded public places. The 300 sketchbooks he keeps in his studio prove its centrality in his artistic practice.