Leah Doyle – Mortal Coils

OPENING RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST: SEPTEMBER 27, 5:00-8:00PM Dates and times subject to change. Please sign our guest list to receive the latest updates about this exhibition.

Born and raised in Oakland, California, Leah Doyle first came to Los Angeles to pursue a career in fashion. While the work proved dynamic and creatively rewarding, she soon found herself searching for a more spiritually resonant mode of expression. She began to redirect the tools of her design background toward a new visual language—one that fused material experimentation with interior inquiry. Like so many others, Doyle found early encouragement and a sense of belonging within the vibrant artistic community that gathered around Al’s Bar.

Table Top, wood, 26” x 50”

Over the next two decades, she steadily built a reputation through both solo and group exhibitions, earning critical acclaim for her emotionally charged and formally inventive work. However, prolonged exposure to toxic materials used in her process led to a debilitating illness that silenced her practice for nearly ten years. What followed was a protracted period of recovery, including a lung transplant and years of rehabilitation.

Immanations, 2000, 46.5” x 54.5”, Mixed media

Now, in a remarkable return to form, Doyle resumes her studio practice with renewed urgency and vision. Her latest body of work, Mortal Coils, marks her first solo exhibition since regaining her health. Unsurprisingly, these new pieces confront themes of impermanence, resilience, and the ever-present proximity of mortality with unflinching clarity and grace.

Eye, 2003, 20” x 29”, Mixed media, paper

Musée du Al is honored to present Mortal Coils—a testament to artistic perseverance and a meditation on life at its most fragile and profound.