AS A JET-SETTING FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER, LELAND NEFF SNAPPED SUPER MODELS AND ARGENTINEAN GAUCHOS, DESIGNER-CLAD ARISTOCRATS AND WEATHER-WORN RUSTICS. AS A PAINTER, HIS CLASSIC COMPOSITIONS IN OIL HAVE IMMORTALIZED NUMEROUS FINE HORSES AND THEIR OWNERS IN STATELY SERENITY, EVEN AS HE ALSO CREATES KINETIC, IMPRESSIONIST TABLEAUS OF HORSE RACES, HUNTS AND WILD PONIES ON THE HOOF. AFTER DECADES CHASING BEAUTIES AND BEASTS ACROSS SEVERAL CONTINENTS, THE INTREPID LELAND HAS FOUND A NEW WORLD ON HIS 140 ACRE FARM IN BLENHEIM, NEW YORK.
PURCHASING THE LAND IN 2004, LELAND HAS WEATHERED STORMS, GOTTEN TO KNOW THE LAND, THE TOWN AND HIS NEIGHBORS, AND SECURED THE BARNS FOR HIS GROWING COLLECTION OF RACE HORSES. LELAND'S NINE HORSES ARE FROM THE BLOODLINES OF CHAMPIONS, AND HE IS CULTIVATING A SMART LITTLE FILLY NAMED "ISABEAUTY" HE HOPES TO HELP TRAIN FOR GREATNESS AT NEARBY SARATOGA. SOME OF LELAND'S HORSES CAME TO HIM IN BARTER FOR HIS FINE-ART PORTRAITS, OR IN GRATITUDE FOR THE ARTWORK HE HAS OFFERED AT CHARITY AUCTIONS FOR SUCH ANIMAL RESCUE ORGANIZATIONS AS THE NEW YORK HORSE RESCUE, BLUE CHARITIES, THE TRA, AND EQUINE ADVOCATES.
THE MAIN HOUSE, BUILT IN 1850, SITS ALONGSIDE ROUTE 30, A GREEK REVIVAL STYLE STRUCTURE WITH GOOD BONES, STILL IN NEED OF SOME TENDER CARE AS LELAND RESURRECTS IT INTO HIS STUDIO AND GALLERY. MOST OF HIS VERDANT AND VARIED LAND LIES JUST A STONE'S THROW AWAY - FOR ONE WITH A GOOD ARM THAT DOESN'T MIND A LITTLE SPLASH. TO VISIT HIS PASTURED HORSES, LELAND MUST CLIMB INTO HIS TRUCK AND MAKE HIS WAY SEVERAL MILES DOWN THE ROAD, ACROSS A NARROW BRIDGE, AND THROUGH AN EASEMENT ON A FARMER'S LAND TO GET TO HIS OWN. SPLIT BY SCHOHARIE CREEK, LELAND'S LAND IS AN APT METAPHOR FOR HIS VARIED AESTHETIC, WHICH CONTINUALLY COMBINES DISPARATE ELEMENTS TO NEW EFFECT. HIS ENTHUSIASM FOR HIS PICTURESQUE HOME-STAKE IS AS BOUNDLESS AS THE FLOWING, FLOODING, FREEZING, FREEING WATERS, AND AS WIDE-RANGING AND UNPREDICTABLE.
LELAND GREW UP A NAVY BRAT, HIS FIGHTER PILOT COMMANDER FATHER STATIONED AT SUCH FAR FLUNG OUTPPOSTS AS NAPLES, ITALY, THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS, AND THETHE BRITISH WEST INDIES. AS A PHOTOGRAPHER, LELAND'S WORK TOOK HIM TO NEPAL, TAHITI, PATAGONIA, ARGENTINA, AND HIS PHOTOGRAPHS APPEAR " IN VOGUE, GQ, L'UOMO VOGUE, ELLE, FORTUNE MAGAZINES. THESE RESTLESS DECADES HONE LELAND'S ART AND EYE, BUT IN THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS, AS HE HAS SURRENDERED TO THE CARE OF HIS BELOVED HORSES, LELAND HAS GROWN MORE COMFORTABLE WITH THE RHYTHM AND PACE THEY SET. AFTER LIVING IN THE HAMPTONS FOR SYEARS, CARIG FOR HIS HORSES AT A RENTED STABLE AS HE WORKED ON PORTRAIT COMMISSIONS FOR THE LOCAL LANDED GENTRY, HE CAME TO REALIZE IT WAS TIME TO CREATE A PLACE OF HIS OWN.
STATES LELAND, "ALL THROUGH MY CHILDHOOD AND ADULT LIFE I TRAVELED AND NEVER FELT ROOTED. I DIDN'T REALLY HAVE OLD FRIENDS THAT I'D GROWN UP WITH. BEING A I MILITARY BRAT, AND THEN A FASHION PHOTOGRAPHER, LEFT ME WITHOUT THE FEELING OF HOME OR HOMETOWN. ALL OF THE ARTIST THAT HAD LOOKED UP TO DOCUMENT THEIR OWN ENVIRONMENT, ANDREW WYETH, MONET. NOW AT LEAST I HAVE THE HOPE TO REFLECT THE HOME AROUND ME,"
THE MOVE TO BLENHEIM IN THE LUSH LANDS OF NEW YORK STAT'S FABLED LEATHERSTOCKING DISTRICT EAST OF ALBANY HAS KEPT LELAND BUSY. HE HAS BEEN WORKING WITH AREA FORESTERS, FARMERS AND GALLERY OWNERS TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF HIS LAND, PRESENT HIS WORK TO THE REGIONAL ART SCENE, AND FEED HIS HORSES AND HIMSELF. ON A RECENT VISIT, GUESTS HARVESTED GREEN TOMATOES, SAGE, AND SQUASH BLOSSOMS TO PAN GRY AND ENJOY. THE STARTER PLANTS CAME FROM A GENEROUS GIFT FROM A LOCAL GROWER, BUT LELAND'S CONSCIENTIOUS CARE OF THE ON THE RICH SOIL OF HIS OWN LAND IS WHAT BROUGHT THEM TO THE TABLE.
LELAND'S LEARNING CURVE HAS BEEN STEEP - HE'S FACED FIERCE FLOODS, MASTERED THE DANGEROUS ART OF CHAIN SAWING, AND LOST SEVERAL DUCKS TO A HALF-FERAL ODOG OVER CHRISTMAS. CITYSLICKER FRIENDS, NEW NEIGHBORS AND FAMILY RELATIONS ALL HAD OPINIONS ON THE MANY CONSIDERATIONS LELAND HAS SUDDENLY FACED WITH AS A FARMER, AND LELAND ENDEAVORED TO KEEP A POSITIVE ATTITUDE. HE NOTES WITH A MERCURIAL LAUGH, "I KEPT REMEMBERING A LINE FROM A POEM I HAD TO MEMORIZE AS A CHILD, 'KEEP YOUR HEAD WHEN ALL MEN DOUB YOU, BUT MAKE ALLOWANCE FOR THEIR DOUBTING TOO!'
SEVERAL MONTHS INTO HIS ADVENTURE, LELAND NOW HAS A FEW GUARD GEESE ON DUTY TO PROTECT HIS NEW DUCKS, A BARN READY TO ACCOMMODATE HIS HORSES, AND HAS MADE HIS HOME A COZY SPOT, ENJOYING PAINTING FROM THE FRONT PORCH - AT PRESENT A SIMPLE CONCRETE SLAB OUT FRONT, WHERE THE LIGHT IS STRONGEST.
LELAND'S WORK CAN BE FOUND AT HIS OWN GALLERY, THE LELAND NEFF FINE ART GALLERY, WWW.LELANDNEFF.COM, HTTP://LELANDNEFF.BLOGSPOT.COM CROSS GATE GALLERY AND MANY TOP SPORTING ART GALLERIES AROUND THE WORLD.
FROM HIS LAND LELAND HAS FOUND NEW INSPIRATION, AS THE SEASONS YIELD UP NEW VIEWS OF OLD VISTAS, AS EVERY STORM SHIFTS THE COURSE OF THE RIVER, AND AS HIS PRIZE FOAL HIGH-STEPS HER WAY TOWARDS FUTURE FAME. SHE, LIKE THE LAND, "ISABEAUTY," AND AFTER YEARS OF INTREPID GLOB-HOPPING, CAPTURING CONTINENTS AND CULTURES, NOW, ON THESE ACRES OF FOREST, FIELD AND FLOWING WATER IN UPSTATE NEW YORK, LELAND NEFF HAS FINALLY COME HOME.
