Tangents are interesting. They represent possibilities. I'm reinvestigating a direction that had its beginnings in 1999, exploring past works and the possible alternate routes that were not or have not been taken. My visit to the Pace Prints facilities was an inspired moment. It brought on the question "WHAT IF...?” – Leonardo Drew
Leonardo Drew’s installation of new works at Pace Prints is comprised of self-described “monstrosities created in paper pulp” which simultaneously push toward and pull from “that something else.” Drew’s work addresses the physical space around the works by anchoring each piece with a core, creating force and weight, while finessing a solid meaningful structure. His works have roots in spirituality, energy and nature, arising from the ground which we come from and to which we return. Drew approaches his collective body of work in the same manner, allowing one work to organically inform another and removing ego from the works by numbering sequentially rather than providing titles.
Drew is known for his dynamic large-scale sculptural installations. The works in this exhibition, though large for works on paper, are comparatively small. These three-dimensional works on paper are the culmination of extensive experimentation within the medium of paper pulp. When invited into the Pace Paper studio, Drew immediately noted the differences from his own, (the studio’s sky-light, the color of the pigments) which ultimately and very organically found their absorption into his work (i.e. the first use of silver and blue in the artist’s career.)
In conjunction with this exhibition, from September 6 through October 12 Sikkema Jenkins & Co. will also be featuring new works by Leonardo Drew. On view will be a major installation created within the entire gallery space, as well as more than 25 sculptural works.
Drew has been making artwork since childhood and first exhibited his work at the age of 13. He went on to attend the Parsons School of Design and received his BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1985. Since then, he has shown in a variety of institutions such as The Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC, the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, Ireland, The Art Institute of Chicago, The Miami Art Museum, and the St. Louis Art Museum. He has also collaborated with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, and has participated in artist residencies at ArtPace, San Antonio and The Studio Museum of Harlem in New York City, among others.
Drew’s mid-career survey exhibition, Existed: Leonardo Drew, debuted in 2009 at the Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston and traveled to the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA. A monograph of his work was published in conjunction with the survey by Giles, Ltd., London.
Leonardo Drew lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.