Driven by a desire to model water and inspired by the historical seascapes of Van de Velde & Son and William Turner, the new series “Waves” was conceived. By applying colorless petroleum jelly with a brush to a glass plate, the resulting brushstroked waves capture and reflect sunlight. The hand movement is no different from painting with oil paint, but the material is transparent, avoiding color, the sea is solely represented through reflection. Leegte paints and sculpts the delicate play of light on moving water. That moment is captured in a photograph. The work can be seen as solidification of light.
The series ‘Stilllife with shells’ is derived from the paintings by the Dutch artist Adriaen Coorte (1665- 1707). His masterly way of working with light seemed to match with the light sensitivity of alabaster. Coorte has painted a series with shells, each unique one carefully placed on a stone surface. In his days shells were precious and unusual exotic objects, coming from overseas. They showed the wealth of the owner. Nowadays the situation has changed. Because of extinction one isn’t allowed to take certain shells out of their habitat. In a sad way they’ve become precious again.The shells on the photos are based on the ones I found when I was young and living in the tropics. Meticulously remaking them in alabaster, these shells are future fossils.