Leila Eissa

Leila Eissa is an Egyptian contemporary painter based between Cairo, Egypt and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Her practice is rooted in abstraction as a means of emotional articulation, each work a direct response to her inner world. Rather than representing external subjects, her paintings serve as visceral reflections of psychological states, shaped by intuition rather than intention. The recurring interplay between order and disruption reflects an ongoing internal tension: a desire for structure coexisting with the inevitability of emotional unpredictability. Her pieces are emotionally charged, yet open - where the unseen becomes visible, and where abstraction becomes a powerful conduit for truth, tension, and transformation.

In the studio, she engages with painting as both a meditative process and a form of release. Working in solitude, she creates space for vulnerability and instinct to take over. Bold, declarative strokes are often accompanied by hesitant, blurred gestures, revealing a quiet duality between assertion and withdrawal. These layered marks speak to the complexities of identity, anxiety, and self-awareness. In many ways they are self-portraits without figures, abstract reflections of her emotional landscape, shaped more by instinct than by form.