Bartell’s champion for The Wick is Elie Khouri, who said: “As a collector, I’m drawn to artists who push both technical and conceptual boundaries, and Leila does exactly that. Her work combines precise brushwork with fluid, gestural abstraction, creating a beautiful balance between control and spontaneity. The way she handles colour and texture adds depth to her work, while her dynamic compositions keep the viewer engaged. Leila’s paintings often blur the line between the real and the imagined, creating a visual tension that invites interpretation. Each piece feels like an unfolding story, drawing you into a world that is both raw and introspective. Her use of light and texture is particularly striking, giving her work a sense of movement and life.”

Drawing on a rich pool of references, Bartell is inspired by “memories, dreams, alongside the rich history of art itself.” Bartell often creates bodies of work in response to classical art or sculpture; her 2024 exhibition at Daniel Katz, for example, saw the artist forge connections with Filippo Parodi’s sculpture. “The opportunity to respond to classical works while maintaining my own contemporary voice was both challenging and deeply rewarding. It allowed me to merge historical influence with personal expression, all within a space that respected artistic autonomy.”

Bartell’s paintings exude a kind of soothing quality, serene and like a breath of air. That stems, perhaps, from a childhood immersed in nature, “surrounded by fields and thick forests” the artist explains. “As a result, landscapes and clouds often find their way into my abstractions. Lately, I’ve been particularly captivated by the emotional depth in John Constable’s cloud studies— I share his fascination with clouds as ever-changing expressions of nature.” On her Instagram, interspersed among images of her paintings and Bartell working in her gorgeous studio, are pictures of pristine snow-glazed sloped, turquoise lakes and crystal-clear seas, the lucid palettes and sense of openness seem to merge into her works.

Nature may be her ultimate muse, but Bartell is also a humanist painter at heart. Asked what the artist considers her greatest accomplishment to date, her answer makes this clear: “when someone tells me a painting moved them, that’s the most meaningful success.”