lessLIE

Country/Region: Northwest Coast (view other artists)

Tribe: Coast Salish

Born in 1973 in Duncan, BC, lessLIE's "colonized, Catholic, Canadian name" is Leslie Robert Sam. His "decolonized artist's name" is lessLIE. Picasso once said that "art is a lie that tells the truth." lessLIE is living this perspective in the spirit of trickster traditions. lessLIE has a Bachelor of Arts degree in First Nations Studies from Malaspina University-College. While working on this undergraduate degree, lessLIE began to study Coast Salish art in 1995. lessLIE is currently working on a Master of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies with a focus on Coast Salish art at the University of Victoria.

Works by lessLIE can be found in the collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Canada, and the Westfalisches Museum fur Naturkunde (Landesmuseum und Planetarium) in Munster, Germany. The Two Rivers Gallery in Prince George, British Columbia, presented a solo exhibition of his work in 2009, and Alcheringa Gallery has presented three solo exhibitions of his work so far. In late 2009, lessLIE participated in the groundbreaking international exhibition Hailans to Ailans.

Selected Exhibitions

2010 Giving Traditions, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2010 Garamuts, Tifa, and Tambourines: Drums of the Pacific Rim, Group Exhibition, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2010 Gallery Artists: Masterworks from the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and Papua New Guinea, Group Exhibition, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2010 Pacific Patterns and Dreamings, Group Exhibition, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2011 Pacific Prints 2011, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2011 Ailans Travelled, Group Exhibition, Celebrating the return from London of several works created for Hailans to Ailans, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2011 Gallery Artists: Focus on Fibres, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

2011 lessLIE: Spindle wHOLE, Alcheringa Gallery, Victoria, BC

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