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Artist Statment
As far back as I, Leslie Ditto, can remember I have always been drawn to self expression through visual arts. As a young girl, growing up in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee, I was not exposed to any surreal artist until I attended Overton High School for the performing and Visual Arts. I then became fascinated with the use of symbols in my paintings much like Dali's and Dada's works.
I was accepted into Otis Parsons in Los Angeles. After only two month of training my father had become terminally ill and I was forced to return home to Memphis.. I was never able to return to school but could not deny the artist in me the opportunity for expression just because I had never been formally trained.
Over the years I researched techniques of the "Old Masters" such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, Raphael, and Rembrandt .I fell in love with the technique of glazing transparent oil color over a neutral colored under painting.
With both the Surrealist and the "Old Masters" greatly influencing me, I create disturbingly beautiful oil paintings that interpret to the viewer my deep emotions that are conceived from my views of current social, political, and religious dynamics. My ideas come to me in a organic fashion. Starting with a seed of a simple idea and growing into many complex symbols and images. My main goal is to capture my audience and bring them to my emotional state in the hopes that my test for an echo will be a success.
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