Studio Visit with Denise DeLeo

Originally recorded June 28, 2022.

George Irwin of Western Gallery visits with Denise DeLeo, whose work centers on photography and who is based in Las Vegas area, Nevada, for a wide-ranging conversation about the artist’s work, process, and studio practice.

Transcript note: Speaker labels were assigned from the source audio where available and dialogue context otherwise. Paragraph breaks were added for readability, and verbal filler was lightly edited. Joint labels mark rapid or overlapping exchanges. This was prepared from an automated transcription, so minor transcription errors may remain.

Instagram Live studio visit—June 28, 2022

Watch the original video on Instagram (32:20)

Participants: George Irwin and Denise DeLeo

George Irwin: Hello out there! George Irwin here with Western Gallery. It's time for another studio visit or something of the sort. Today we're going to be visiting with Denise DeLeo and I believe Las Vegas area. Denise is a very talented photographer, and it's been really awesome to show her pieces in New New Western Talent this year. Excuse me, if you haven't seen her work, this is the part where I tell you to go to the website, go to www.western.gallery, check it out in New Western Talent. She's got three, as the same as the rest of the artists, everybody has three pieces but she's got three photos and they are all black and white and have so much atmosphere and vibe to them that you really should check them out. So I will see if I can get Denise on here, and we're gonna talk about fine art photography and I don't know what else. We'll find out. There she is.

George Irwin: Thank you guys for tuning in by the way. It's cool to see you actually live happening in real time. If you guys have questions for Denise or me as we go, please just drop it in the comments and we'll try to address them. So hey Denise how are you doing? good, George. I'm doing great. Thanks for having me. You bet, absolutely. Long time no see. I know right? We just did a little test connection to make sure that we could connect instead

George Irwin / Denise DeLeo: of me just talking to the camera for 10 minutes at a time. Yeah it's a good move I think. So where are you Denise? Are you in Las Vegas or are you... Okay yeah because people

Denise DeLeo: sometimes don't know where I'm at. Sometimes I don't, so right now I'm in Las Vegas and actually I will, I'm actually, well I think I told you I'm going through construction in my house and then after construction I'm gonna be heading back out on the road. I'm coming back up into Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico.

George Irwin: I did a thing on Instagram like where should I go? Where are you going?

Denise DeLeo: I was debating whether going into Texas or going up to, I wanted to go up Washington. Some place in particular so I wanted it to go which I've never been to Olympia National Forest which is on the border of Canada and just from images I've seen it looks very magical like almost fairy tale-like, the forest up there. Whether I go this time or not, I will be going back up there because I have plans for a fine art shoot up there

George Irwin: Very cool

Denise DeLeo: So but I think to be honest

George Irwin: even though everybody's saying

Denise DeLeo: go to Washington, I think I want to go into Texas so

George Irwin: Well if you come through the Dallas area, holler at me and we can get together

Denise DeLeo: Oh absolutely, absolutely

George Irwin: Yeah, my family and I are actually going up to like the gorge area in Oregon. I guess a little bit south of Washington later in the summer.

Denise DeLeo: Oh okay yeah. I know it's beautiful up there. I just...

George Irwin: I haven't been up there in like 20 years. Maybe that's not true maybe like 10 actually but yeah it is so beautiful. I love it. I haven't been to that specific part of Washington, but right for everything up there so cool.

Denise DeLeo: Well, that's it. That's the thing with traveling, you know, you know, especially even when I do go and a lot of times I have no expectations of actually I have to order because I'm so old school. I want to I need to order that right away. A map like a physical map like I hate this technology stuff. So But other than having a map, really that's my only no places to stay planned out. No nothing just seeing where the road so to speak takes me if you will. I think he is on here my friend David. I always joke about looking up at the sky and that'll tell us where we need to take off and travel to so especially in the landscape photography and you know these great conditions and right now I'm missing all the monsoon going on up in

George Irwin: northern New Mexico. Oh yeah, those are like the big clouds coming in. Yeah, yeah. I live for those. Mm-hmm. Yeah well that's awesome. So do you do a lot of these kind of just like whimsical... I mean they're maybe not whimsical and in practice but like road trips where you just kind of take off and check things out and take photos or is this a newish thing?

Denise DeLeo: So yeah so really probably for the since four years ago when I got it you know started getting back into photography, I really for the most part every month I leave. I'm very blessed to be able to leave sometimes longer like this time will be a month-long trip and I've been a really bad girl. I haven't been shooting for a while so but I you know I need to stop being bad and walking into stores and shopping and that sort of stuff and I need to get serious, I need it serious about shooting and doing work because it's within me there's much... I think I've got a few projects going on around me different projects. So I work on, I do my landscape work. I've got some of my

George Irwin: stuff back here, some of might maybe I'll flip it around. That's what I'll do. How do

Denise DeLeo: I do this?

George Irwin: There's like a little, almost like a Pisces looking symbol of arrows.

Denise DeLeo: Okay, you look out my dirty living room. So unfortunately these are in the sheets but this is what I call more of my fine art. Yeah. Photography it's totally everything about its conceptual and I will tell you George whether it's doing my landscapes or doing conceptual fine art portrait work like this. It's all very personal to me. Sure. You know, like for this I actually this and this was all done throughout a road trip I took or I should say this was conceived during a road trip. Just had some stuff happen to me and this was sort of the brainchild I came up with. I was out visiting Mission in in Tucson and I remember just being overwhelmed by my own emotions, by the mission itself and listening to some music. And I got on a phone with my friend who's a designer out in LA her name is Michelle Hebert she's amazing.

Denise DeLeo: And you know I told her about this idea what it was thinking I need you to come up with with, I call them costumes. Come up with the costume, the dress for it and then you know I have a team that I work with here in Las Vegas and also in New Mexico of makeup artists. I'm blessed to know makeup artist and hair people and you know the next thing you know we're shooting, we're flying people out just to do that particular shoot. So that's more of the stuff you'll see when I go up into Washington when I shoot, when I talk about fine art like portrait photography. That's more than up in Washington and it really is not something that you just kind of pull out and do. No. It's planning it. There's a whole production to go

George Irwin: into that. Wow, so you had... so you're talking about your team, you have makeup hair, I don't know style is maybe or if you might handle that?

George Irwin / Denise DeLeo: Well, I do all the styling without even knowing. Right and then you had the model there

George Irwin: where you just were you giving her direction like give me some kind of

George Irwin / Denise DeLeo: like, um, or how do you know, I'm very, you know music for me inspires a lot of my work

Denise DeLeo: or it's a part of it. I really think that music is very important to me so when we did that particular shoot the music that had inspired were one of the inspirational elements into it. You know, we actually shot that up at Pecos National Monument in New Mexico. I don't know if you've ever been there and I was afraid no hopefully he's watching from there but we almost got kicked out of there because they see all these people there in commercial shoot well that was my daughter for the day and that was a school shoe we were doing and um now we just we put on i put on the music i bring my little music box out there we put on the music, you know I have to get... I've done a few of these shoots with models and i really have to give them into character so to speak. Yeah. Ever it is that moved me to do this shoot, I have too interpret that to the model and that's also

Denise DeLeo: you know, I just can't go pick... I need to make sure that my model and bring that forth. Does that make sense? Yeah, definitely. To bring the emotion in which that particular girl I work with her quite often because she's amazing. She shows everything

George Irwin: I feel so it's great to hear. That's awesome. Yeah man what that's so cool and I mean the images that you were showing us up I would like to see those up close sometime but but they look like they're just super compelling.

Denise DeLeo: Thank you, thank you. And I actually just have a collector buy three of them for their new home. So yesterday they bought three of em so that was great.

George Irwin: Oh fantastic. Yeah. Cool. So is that something? So you also do like, actually let me go different direction. So all that work that you're talking about is about capturing the image. And then it's about capturing the image in your camera or whatever, right? And then whether it goes to well do you do you work in film and digital

George Irwin / Denise DeLeo: or do you choose for a shoot

George Irwin: or do multiple formats or what kind of stuff do you shoot with?

Denise DeLeo: with? Yeah, no I used to. Well of course we're not gonna say my age and date myself but of course you know I'm proud of my age but that's how I learned was with film and printing and creating. I used to do really large murals where I create my own negatives or those to be able to blow up, you know, 10 feet murals that I was working on. Um, yeah, now I work of course, I work, I sh doesn't matter what you shoot with, I always say that it doesn't matter what camera that digital and I also still you I still do a little appropriation work so I'm working actually I'm working on here's another thing I'm working on. So I'm working on a little series, who knows what will become of it? It's called Men and Munsters. And their portraits... I can flip around and show you if you want to see that. They're there, but I don't want to show too much so

Denise DeLeo: I won't go away. So they're portraits of certain individuals it may be an individual I know it could be let's say certain icons. I don't want to give too much away, certain icons in history and you know it was wanted to be... I always say I wish Rosita's my friend said she teach me how to paint She's like you can do it but I don' t know that I can do it so what I'm doing is I'm creating appropriate images and my own images They're half inch by half inch single. I'll show you without showing you too much. Oh wow. So this particular piece of work is 40 by 60 and you're going what the hell

George Irwin: is this? Who knows what it's gonna become of? So each image is half inch

Denise DeLeo: by half-inch, and again I don't want to get too close because I don t want to give too much away, but every particular image in there has direct meaning into that person that's in the portrait of them. Does that make sense? Yes. So I don't want to get up too close because this particular one is a personal one and I don t want to give too much away but let's say I was doing cowboy for example all the little images made

George Irwin: let's be of a horse. Do you have no oh sorry go ahead. No and I was gonna

Denise DeLeo: say each image is printed onto sheets and then of course I have that's why it doesn't look like this actually has taken me already like I stopped for a well, but that was probably two months in the work of printing and then cutting out each image and being able to adhere it to the board. And then trying to get the tonality, the black-and-white tonality to create a person which I'm still working on within the whole within the whole piece.

George Irwin: So do you have, for those individual like half inch by half inch images and creating the mosaic of a larger image, do you sort of index images at like a, I don't know, one to ten kind of value scale that you can use then to create the larger mosaic?

Denise DeLeo: George, I'm going to tell you what this is first time I've done it and I don t even the hell I'm doing. No, it's all sorts of trial and error.

George Irwin: Wow. Okay.

Denise DeLeo: I hate to see what's going on while I can't either. I hope it does turn out that once I get back from New Mexico again, I'm gonna start going into that. So that's another thing that I do got all these projects going on. And then of course my landscape work that's in the share with you at Western.

George Irwin: Yeah, awesome. So okay so we were talking about then like capturing the image then there's also you know printing the image and a lot of times it's perfectly legitimate and makes tons of sense to just have it printed or to print an image with a digital high quality printer. Do you do that, or do you do any darkroom kind of developing?

Denise DeLeo: No, I don't. I wish I did to a certain point. But for right now, no. I've worked with a few different printers as far as to establish the quality I want as far is it coming out from a digital. But no, not right now. I haven't done any of my own printing in a long while.

George Irwin: Yeah, there's just so many kind of different varied processes you can employ, I guess, in printing photographs. That's interesting to me. Well, so Denise then, I guess so you're going out to New Mexico. Are you gonna be working on a project out there or is it gonna be just like landscape investigation like chasing the clouds and.

Denise DeLeo: You know, I think well, I'll tell you when I first get out there, Spanish markets going on so I got to go to Spanish market. So besides, um, besides doing, you know, making art myself, doing photography, I also, um. Like to collect work as well. Um, so that's just a passion of mine, you know, and I, I like the ideal while I do, I think it's important to support other artists, to buy work. You know, friends that you know, I don't get people, especially people that can afford to buy art, they'll go to like Hobby Lobby or they'll got to West End to buy these productions and they do! I know. I'm talking a million dollar homes. They buy these productions but you know I guess people either get it or they don't it and you know I get it and I like to contribute to other people making art because that's important.

Denise DeLeo: So yeah, I'll be coming out for Spanish market. I've got a couple of people work I want to look at. I've gotten a few people that I've gotta spend some money with this summer out there in Santa Fe.

George Irwin: Well, do you have... not to exclude people but in the spirit of inclusivity is there anybody that you can name that you're excited to see their work out there?

Denise DeLeo: Well I actually saw one of my friends and artist named Shawn Michael Chavez.

George Irwin: Oh yes! Yes, I love Sean's work. We gave him the Director's Award for the first New Western Talent. Oh did you really?

Denise DeLeo: Okay and I got one of his pieces back here in my area. So yeah he has a show in Santa Fe in August at Acosta Jerome so I've already put a budget aside for him. Fantastic. Fantastic. Of course, there's a couple little artists that I want to buy but Shawn is my big one and then one from Joel Peter Wickton. Those are my goals for this year and also another artist like... I actually have his work up there but they're not... Here, I'll flip it around. They're not originals. originals. originals are a little pricey but his name's Aaron Weisenfeld. Oh cool. And I love his work, he's from California, I have a few of his prints but uh he's doing a show in December at Evoque in Santa Fe and that's also on my list.

George Irwin: Awesome. Cool. Yeah well um I think we might have talked a little bit about this at the opening, Denise, but you also do like some commercial work as well right?

Denise DeLeo: A little bit yes. A little good. Portfolios. I had one of my pieces in Vogue Italia that's my one thing. But yeah. My passion is my own personal work because again, it doesn't matter if it's landscape or even in the landscapes. It's not like I don't know. It's like you either get it or you don't get it. I'm not just driving some place and okay that looks pretty. I mean I've gone to the same place probably 20 times in a row for whatever reason there's something there that's so you know when I'm shooting these landscapes and you know actually I flip around if that's okay George so yes like this particular you know this the portrait or the picture of well it is a portrait It really is. It's a portrait, it's a landscape self-portrait of myself but that actually I

George Irwin: titled that from a David White poem and I don't know if you're familiar with him? I'm not.

Denise DeLeo: Also in that to you later it's called the House of Belonging and that's why I entitled The House of belonging but it talks about um actually I have it right here I'll read a little part of it from the poem. Oh, perfect. That's okay so... Absolutely. It says this is the bright home in which I live. This is where I ask my friends to come. This is where i want to love all the things that has taken me so long to learn to love. This Is a temple of my adult aloneness and I belong to that aloness as I belong into my life. There is no home like the house of belonging. So, yeah. My head's all over the place with music, poetry, imagery and you know I just think about places like that and who there was a life once there and who was it that lived there? That's one of the great things about traveling. I'm going to flip it back

Denise DeLeo: on me. That's one of the great things about traveling and you know my friends always worried about me because I'll just stop at a stranger's house, I end up in strangers homes all the time but you know I get to physically meet you know I'm meeting people I'm hearing about learning experience and things I mean couple months ago when I was out in New Mexico because I love to photograph the Maraudas in northern New Mexico. And I was out there looking for one in a little town, and I think that was Hernandez I was in. It's a little village, it's not a town. I end up pulling up to a stranger on the side of the road, a dirt road, you know, dogs everywhere. The next thing you know the guy comes out of the house he's like, I'm gonna show you where the Marauder is. And he brings out all these, he has a stack of books And he's like, put him in your truck with you and just follow me.

George Irwin: And I'm like what? What's, you know, me and my friend are going, what, what's going on? Hey how long story short into that?

Denise DeLeo: He shows us where the Maraudi is but we are holding like history in our hands. He thought we were from the museum there and whatever, I guess we're dressed nice. We're in my friends' porch.

George Irwin: We don't look like we belong in Hernandez right?

Denise DeLeo: I guess, whatever that's supposed to look like. But they were actually ledgers and dated perfect condition from the 1800s when the railroad road was going through. And in Budo, I think that's how you say it on the way to Taos from Santa Fe to Taos. Wow! And the guy was doing some construction. He was tearing down this house and he found these ledgers. I mean, they're like a piece of history of things that, like a mercantile station would hold whether it be you know yarn or grain or whatever. That's what I live for. So we're holding on to history. We've got to run off with the books. You know it's just crazy to me how friendly people are especially, you know it's my home state of New Mexico but how willing people all are to share with you.

George Irwin: You know especially if that's if you're predisposed to expect that I think also or accept it anyway.

Denise DeLeo: Yes because I don't think yeah I don t think you know I have a lot of crazy stuff like that happens and people invite me in their homes.

George Irwin: They can probably like sense your being Denise.

Denise DeLeo: I think they have to, yeah to a certain degree, yeah. But that's what I live for when I travel is those kind of you know I had another experience up in Abbacue where I ended up going into a person's home in that little village not You've been through Abbacue, George, haven't you? I haven't. Where George, okay, you gotta do that. I never thought my idea. Okay so you drive through Abbequ on the main road up to Taos and really it's, that's the people that live up on the hill

George Irwin: where George O'Keefe's home is

Denise DeLeo: that's what they call Abbeque. Those are the generations, the Hennesaro that lived up there that have lived there for generations And I ended up meeting a gentleman, went into his home and he didn't know how to read or write but told me all the stories about Georgia and Keith and showed me things from when they were kids and planted in the garden. And that's what I live for is those kinds of moments.

George Irwin: When I get back on the road

Denise DeLeo: maybe Texas will be giving that giving to me as well. That's what it wanted. I want to go to little places in the middle of nowhere.

George Irwin: I wanna hear stories, because everybody has a story.

Denise DeLeo: It's whether they know you or not.

George Irwin: Yeah, it seems like... I love that and I love that it is so clear to me, especially... You just illustrated it perfectly with the poem about The House of Belonging and what you were talking about. But the three pieces, the three landscape pieces that you have in New Western Talent, really illustrate I think your connection to the stories that not everybody sees and you help us to see some of those. And then obviously like especially with your more, your more directed I guess like fine art figure shoes Like, you have to be really compelled by something to put that kind of effort into something and make this beautiful image. And I want to thank you for that and for finding these stories in these moments in places and people and sharing those with us.

Denise DeLeo: Thank you George.

George Irwin: That's fantastic.

Denise DeLeo: I appreciate it, thank you.

George Irwin: Well Denise, so you're going to be traveling and shooting, and these... So for example those pieces are, is there anywhere that we'll be able to see those in the future that you know of or?

Denise DeLeo: The, like the fine art. I'm gonna bring them to you to show you I'm going to come to Dallas.

George Irwin: That works.

Denise DeLeo: But actually no, I say that my friend lives in Irving so I'm a that will be my base spot. I know that would be my best spot when I'm there because isn't that nice? Thank you, Nina. If you're on I don't have to pay anything. That would be my base spot but you know I've never really been into Texas so if anybody knew of course George has any ideals of where I can go I wanted to go to,

George Irwin: oh shit what's the name?

Denise DeLeo: Is it Greenville? Greenville. Greenville, Texas.

George Irwin: Greenville Texas, up north. Is that up north? Well, there's a popular like kind of central Texas spot is Green Texas with the Green Dance Hall. But it's starting to turn more like touristy. Greenville is North Texas and it's pretty rural.

Denise DeLeo: OK maybe that's it.

George Irwin: There's a place that these people on Instagram follow me.

Denise DeLeo: It's called White House on Chapel Hill. White House, White Chapel, White House on Chapel Hill. Any, yeah, very lovely. You should look into it. Beautiful property and they do events and stuff there. I know I wanna go there because their property looks beautiful but I've been down into Marfa and Alpine, I've bend down there. I was born in Las Cruces so I've bent down into Southern Texas like that But I have no idea where I want to go.

George Irwin: I wanna go shoot Cowboys, who is it?

Denise DeLeo: I met one of Ash, I'm having a senior moment.

George Irwin: Oh you know what?

Denise DeLeo: She's so good, it's Ashley from Parsons friend.

George Irwin: Chloe Burke.

George Irwin / Denise DeLeo: If she saw us here, I'd come and shoot at your home.

Denise DeLeo: Oh man yeah that would be great. Yeah I wanna out and shoot, you know, my friend has a ranch in Utah and I love that too. I love horses, I love cowboys, I love all of that sort of stuff. So if anybody knows anybody at the 666 Ranch I wanna go there. I mean those are the kinds of things I want to capture.

George Irwin: Sure, yeah, I'm sure there's people who know people. Yeah, I mean you could spend a lifetime in Texas. Yeah, as a lot of places. But yeah, there's a lot to see and shoot and get stuff. But that'll be fun.

Denise DeLeo: Yeah, I'm excited. Well, all right, Denise. At the beginning? No, just saying I have to be there at the beginning and kind of at the end of my journey. That's what I have. Otherwise, I don't know where I'm going. Going to get in the car and drive.

George Irwin: Yeah. Well, good luck to you and I'm sure that you will find more inspiration than you know what to do with. Yeah. Wherever you go and I am excited to see what comes of it.

Denise DeLeo: Thank you. Well I appreciate your support and seriously thank you for doing this or artists. You know you really... I mean, it's really amazing what you do for people. You give them a platform other than their own platform for work that might not have, gets a whole another audience and I really truly appreciate that.

George Irwin: Oh well thank you so much yeah. I mean I love doing it and love working with artists and getting their work out into the world and so it's just a win-win-win.

Denise DeLeo: So.

George Irwin: Well thank you Denise. Just holler at me when you're coming to Texas in Dallas and Irving or whatever, and let's get together. Otherwise thank you so much for talking today and thank you everybody else who popped on and listened for a little bit. Make sure you check out New Western Talent before it closes later this week.

Denise DeLeo: That's right. Thank you George.

George Irwin: Sure thing. Talk to you later Denise. Okay bye. Bye-bye.