Leslie Barlow

Leslie Barlow is an American visual artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota, predominantly focused on paintings that discuss themes of race, gender, and family.

Early life and education

Leslie Barlow was raised in an interracial household, which has heavily influenced the content of her work. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout and got her BFA in Studio Arts with a minor in Business Administration, then got her MFA from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Drawing and Painting.

Career

After graduating from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Barlow has had an exhibition of her work, entitled Loving, and has had her work displayed in places such as the U.S. Bank Stadium. Barlow uses different mediums to create her pieces, ranging from strictly just paintings to mixed media pieces that use different materials, like how she "she layers canvases and panels with a patchwork of fabrics that show through her figures..." Barlow's work tends to work within the themes of race, gender, sexuality, and family. These are very evident throughout her first significant exhibition, Loving, which tackles questions relating to all these various themes.

Works

Barlow's, Loving, is an exhibition at Public Functionary in Minneapolis. This exhibition was created to discuss interracial relationships 50 years after the court case Loving v. Virginia, which was a U.S. Supreme Court case that banned states from prohibiting interracial marriages, while also attempting to make sense of interracial relationships in the Trump administration. The exhibition featured portraits of interracial couples that Barlow had met who were interested in creating more public awareness for interracial couples.

Barlow was chosen among 34 other local artists to create art pieces inspired by the Minnesota Vikings for the opening of the U.S. Bank Stadium, where Barlow created 6 massive portraits of former Vikings players.