Leslie in Wonderland

By far, one of our favorite artists around here is the extraordinarily talented Leslie Ditto and she’s once again knocked our socks off with a brilliant piece based on Alice and her many adventures in Wonderland. Capturing your eye with her striking use of color and tremendous amount of detail she lures you in to Alice’s fantasy world, compelling you to wander your gaze all about this beautiful body of work that fills every available inch of canvas.

In it, we see a large portrait of the Mad Hatter with a reddish-brown mustache and disheveled hair. There’s a clock and gear mechanism tucked into the peeling brim of his top hat which extends down into a monocle and rests over one of his wide, curious, green eyes. Intently, he peers out from behind the looking glass upon a very small and very unfortunate-looking Alice who seems to have landed herself in a cup of mushroom tea. As we know, her predicament is a result of either eating or drinking a magical treat which has now caused her to shrink. As it happens, we see a plethora of delectable, sugary confections spread out on the table below her. Lollipops, cakes, truffles and chocolate covered cherries all deliciously painted and detailed, including one chocolate cupcake which houses a small, albino mouse. Under Alice’s tea cup rests the all-knowing, hookah-smoking caterpillar with the face of an old man and who, unlike the Mad Hatter, appears to be insufferably bored by the situation at hand.

The finely-tuned detail of this painting is remarkable but my favorite aspect of it is that Alice is wearing a look that says she’s been through this all before and is quite weary of being shrunk down to the height of a teaspoon. It’s an unexpected expression as usually Alice is either afraid or in awe of what happens to her during these transformations. This look, however, is pure Leslie and is a signature of her desire to catch the feminine perspectives that are created by today’s dysfunctional culture. Or in this case, Alice’s dysfunctional Wonderland.

This oil painting marks the 1st in a series of work based on classic movies that she will be debuting with Metro Orange Art at this year’s NYC Comic Con in October. Stop by their booth to meet Leslie and see this magnificent oil painting in person. The original canvas is sized at 24×36 and on sale for $3500. If that’s a tad too rich for your blood, pick up one of the limited edition prints sized at 16×24 for a fraction of the cost.

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Thursday, June 17th, 2010, by Eileen Kelleher, Filed under: Art News, Leslie Ditto| Alice In Wonderland, Leslie Ditto, lowbrow, Mad Hatter, oil painting, Tea party| No Comments