Remains I

Leigh Wells’s limited edition prints, drawn from her original collage works, are rich with emotional depth and formal sophistication. Each piece navigates the delicate terrain between figuration and abstraction, using cut and layered forms to explore the dual forces of presence and absence. In some works, fragmented bodies and silhouettes become quiet meditations on loss—evocations of memory, longing, and impermanence. In others, shape and color take the lead, engaging the viewer in a more sensorial, playful dialogue. Wells’s practice is rooted in the language of collage, yet she pushes the medium toward something more painterly and psychological. Her refined sense of composition—at once balanced and intuitive—allows tension and harmony to coexist on the page. These prints distill the intimacy and materiality of the original collages while offering a new lens through which to experience them: as tactile reflections on the body, the void, and the joy of pure form. Whether elegiac or exuberant, each edition is a quiet, compelling invitation to pause and feel. In Well's words: This collage from my Remains series was featured in a 2012 solo exhibition of the same name at Gregory Lind Gallery in San Francisco. The series emerged from feelings of grief and loss, and from a search for the beauty that can remain in the aftermath of hardship. The work later traveled to exhibitions at Gestalten Space in Berlin and Gallery Feinkunst in Hamburg. It was also featured on the cover of Holiday Magazine, along with several other pieces from the series, in conjunction with an artist interview. The original artwork is now held in a private collection in the Bay Area.