Leo Greenfield is an artist with a passion for drawing. His works concentrate on illustrating from memory the ever-changing space of street life and culture. On paper and online, Greenfield expresses the silhouette and patterns of contemporary dress, creating intimate portraits of people and places.
Studying at the University of Adelaide his career in the arts began while contributing to the University’s weekly newspaper On Dit. Here Greenfield published his work while studying a Bachelor of International Studies and later Post Graduate Art History. During this time he also studied Japanese art and culture at Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka.
Furthering his education at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne, Greenfield continued to explore his passion for drawing, writing and printmaking with a Bachelor of Fine Art, graduating in 2010. Greenfield’s drawing practice has seen him gain invitations to International Fashion Weeks in Sydney, Paris and London and in 2013 he undertook an artist residency in the atelier of Martin Grant Paris. In 2014 he set up a studio in East London to further develop his unique illustrative style of drawing.
The London projects allowed Greenfield to work with publishing and fashion houses, seeing his work printed in leading magazines and books. Journalism for Greenfield activates his art practice and he has since contributed to The Daily Telegraph UK, The Weekend Australian Magazine, Wish Magazine, Viva (NZ), Architectural Digest, L'Officiel, Vogue and Harper’s BAZAAR.
For Stripes Publishing and Hardie Grant Books UK Greenfield has illustrated books including Style Forever by Alyson Walsh. Since returning to Australia he has collaborated with brands such as The Daily Edited, Brooks Brothers, Gucci and Chanel to create limited edition collections, store installations and live drawing events.
Greenfield has shown his artwork widely with exhibitions in France and the UK. Australian career highlights include projects with The Design Files, public talks given at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of South Australia, as well as recent drawing performances at the Powerhouse Museum and collaborations with the Sherman Centre for Culture & Ideas.
Alongside his art practice Greenfield created a monthly column for the The Adelaide Review that celebrated the lives of South Australians from 2016 to 2020.