Cosplay gets fine art treatment from Leslie Barlow

If you’ve met Leslie Barlow or seen her paintings, you may have noticed a certain radiance. Celebrated locally and nationally for her art and her activism, Barlow’s portraits burst with color, textures and curious moments of abstraction, revealing the soul of her subjects through the canvas. 

Recently, Barlow has begun exploring something new: cosplay, that playful blend of costumes, anime and pop culture that brings fans dressed as their favorite characters to convention centers the world over. Barlow has long enjoyed cosplay as a personal expression separate from her professional art. But in a new body of work, “Us, Becoming,” she’s beginning to merge her passions. The work is ongoing, but attendees at this month’s Confluence sci-fi and fantasy convention will get a sneak peak.

Cosplay — a mashup of the words “costume” and “play” — is not traditionally regarded as fine art. But it’s hardly unartistic. Cosplayers often spend months crafting elaborate costumes, wigs, props and makeup to embody the heroes and villains of their favorite stories. They gather not only to portray their favorite characters, but to join a community that celebrates creativity and transformation. 

Related: Superheroes are real: Hanging with the beautiful freaks, geeks, nerds and cosplayers of Minneapolis Comic Con

“If you were to walk into a gallery or museum, you don’t often see comic art displayed in those spaces,” Barlow said. “I am curious, is that something that is possible? Could I show a six-foot or eight-foot oil painting about this subject matter at a [fan convention] and a gallery space or museum space simultaneously?”

About a decade ago, Barlow learned to sew and make her own costumes — a skill that soon entered her studio practice. Scrap fabric from cosplay outfits began finding its way into her canvases, stitched directly into the surface or collaged into the background.

Her paintings emanate a warm presence — a feeling similar to the kindness many feel who interact with her. Barlow’s portraits have always drawn on relationships. Whether painting friends, family or community members, her art often leads to collaboration, mentorship or organizing for social issues. 

Outside the studio, she is known for her leadership at Public Functionary, a gallery celebrating the work of artists from marginalized communities; as an art professor at the University of Minnesota; and for her activism with Creatives After Curfew, a muralist collective formed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. 

All of her work shares a common theme: It centers on people and their stories.

Barlow’s attention to storytelling is central to “Us, Becoming,” which debuted in April at EXPO Chicago. One of the pieces, “Heavenly” (2025), is currently on view at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design’s “Visionary Reality” show honoring the late painter Peter Williams. Barlow describes the project as expansive in its exploration of what cosplay and masking mean, what they do as performance, and how identity shifts when you don a costume.

Related: Leslie Barlow solo show to open at Mia in July

In “Cosplay Alter Destiny” (2024), Barlow paints herself and friends in costume. She channels Storm, from X-Men, in a cape designed by local artist Kaitlyn McClain. The canvas comes alive with gestural lines and symbols. The painting aims to “communicate something abstract about the feeling of transformation that happens when you put on a cosplay,” she said.

Another painting, “Ctrl + ALT + Super Mushroom Fire Flower” (2025), features two non-white cosplayers as Super Mario and Princess Peach. Sourced from a selfie, the painting inverts the video game’s storyline: Peach holds Mario on a leash. “Who’s rescuing who? Who gets to be the leader of the story?” Barlow asks. “What does it mean to be able to take over the story and create your own version of it?”

Across “Us, Becoming,” Barlow mixes realism with abstraction to emphasize transformation, joy and power. It’s not that Barlow is moving away from the questions of race, identity and justice that animated her earlier works, but that she’s approaching them in a new, fantastical way. 

“What is a superhero, if not something like a deity,” she said, delighting in her new perspectives. “I sometimes laugh to myself while I’m painting.” 

Related: Intermedia Arts will give $1 million to Public Functionary

The themes of “Us, Becoming,” intertwine with Confluence, the convention Barlow cofounded in 2023, centered on Black, Indigenous, and other artists of color. “The reason we’re doing it is because those folks are marginalized in the larger Comic Con scene,” Barlow said.

This year’s Confluence, “Futures in Color,” will take place Oct. 18 and 19 at Public Functionary in Northeast’s Northrup King Building. Actor Tim Russ from Star Trek: Voyager will be there, along with game master Aabria Iyengar and others. A gallery will display paintings by Barlow and other artists.

“Confluence gave me the confidence to pursue this subject matter in my paintings,” she said. 

By merging cosplay, painting, and community organizing, Barlow is reshaping how stories are told and who gets to tell them. Her work suggests a future where art, play, and activism overlap, and where joy and imagination are central to cultural transformation.

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