I grew up being constantly surrounded by Japanese manga and video games. Poor parents didn't know when they did that, there's a good chance it may turn their child into an artist. Since then, there's always an urge to create, to reflect what I experience into art form. A mysterious internal force that pushes me to build and expand my own world since I can remember.
During my school years, opportunities were in limited supplies. I was another kid who missed his chance to get proper academic training. So I taught myself. I learned how to paint on my own. And unknowingly, developed my own style.
Around my time, many artists started with manga art, then moved on as they mature. I didn't. The more I grow, the more I am drawn back to where I started. To something I remember fondly since my childhood.
Cute, melancholy, and slightly macabre. A place of pale, guilty ghosts. Sky unlit. Kids with lonely stares. A child's play portrayal of modern humanity through Japanese pop culture. I want my work to reflect depression and anxiety, a reality every society seems to be struggling with. I often feel a silent rage of despair and hopelessness when I'm alone, the sinking feeling that drives me to keep making art. They are a result of spending a lifetime stuck in a personal world. The painting process can sometimes offer some ease to my mind. But most of the time, comes with even more heartbreaking realizations.
Bobby Leash is currently working and living in Bangkok, Thailand.
