San Francisco based painter Hugh Leeman is fully immersed, no doubt passionately attacking his canvas with a brush when I call for scheduled interview. He tells me he’s left wet paintbrushes and an unfinished canvases to speak to me.

“I think I’ve always been creating art to some extent,“ Hugh says.

It shows. At age 18, the Northern Indiana born artist moved away from home and started bartending in the Virgin Islands. At 25, he speaks with a stark amount of discipline. Ask an average 25 year old what they did last night and they’ll likely tell you they partied. Ask Hugh Leeman what he did last night and he’ll likely tell you he stood on a wall and plastered it with his images.

Hugh’s wheat pastes and portraits of black homeless men are more likely to be seen on billboards, street signs and buildings in San Francisco than a gallery.

“There’s some sort of liberation in putting my wheat pastes on street signs in wealthy neighborhoods,“ Hugh says. “It’s like hey, here’s something that’s outta place, look at this and engage my work on a deeper level, ‘cause there is a story here.”

Living in the Tenderloin District, the inner-city ghetto of San Francisco, exposes Hugh to his subjects. His work carries the stories of those urging to be acknowledged. It may be awkward for some to find out Hugh is white. Homeless people can be any race and gender, but Hugh chooses to document only black homeless men.
“It just happened inadvertently,” he explains. “When I look back on the series, It’s a statement just out of circumstance.“

Whether or not viewers will take this as truth is a question. But, a suitable answer is the work itself is strong. Vibrant, urban yet still contemporary. Where his work is going is what has me the most curious. Hugh plans to begin working on raw steel using Renaissance chiaroscuro effects. He allows the pieces to rust naturally and then paints realistic portraits utilizing parts of the rust. He was inspired by the 19th century Japanese technique Gyotaku.
“It happened by accident,“ Hugh says of the inspiration for the new work he’s set to create. “It worked out and I was really into it and I spent another year thinking how can I do this with these portraits?”

For everything Hugh Leeman click here.