Markus Leiste

Born in Germany.
Got his first camera, a Kodak Instamatic, on his 6th birthday from his parents. Ever since, he has been hooked on photography. Even while pursuing his studies of Art History and Literature, his true passion has always been the creative process itself -- the actual making of an artwork, instead of only writing or discussing about it.
After his student years in France and California, he relocated to Berlin, Germany in the early 1990ies, right after the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1998, he returned to southern California before moving back to Berlin in 2004. Between 2009 and 2013 working and living in Hong Kong. From there moving on to the Provence region in the south of France. Currently living with his wife Sarah, a painter, in the Montpellier area.

Some thoughts on the images seen on Saatchi Art: “I first define a project and then create a series of photos for this project. The style of photography has to suit the topic and is therefore different each time. For example, for the series “South of California”, I used a colorful style that reflects the bright and beautiful light, which exists in southern California and Mexico. For “French Connections”, I used a different, vintage kind of look as this series is also m...

Studied Art History + Literature in Aix-en-Provence (France), at the Université de Sorbonne (Paris), and at the University of California, San Diego (U.C.S.D).
Graduated with an M.A. from the Sorbonne and with a Ph.D. from U.C.S.D.

Solo and group shows on three continents. Among them exhibitions at the art gallery of the University of California/San Diego, the Arts Center Berlin, the LUMAS galleries in New York and Berlin, and at the Goethe Institut Hong Kong.