New work by artist and Pace Prints collaborator Leonardo Drew will be on view at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. through October 8, 2016. The exhibition marks Drew’s fifth solo show at the gallery.
Leonardo Drew is known for his abstract sculptural installations, which incorporate materials such as paper, rope, wood, paint chips, tree branches and roots, and sheet metal. In Drew’s hands, these raw materials are exhaustingly transformed to resemble debris. While artistically rooted in art movements of the 1950s and 60s including abstract expressionism, minimalism, and Arte Povera, Drew - influenced by non-Western philosophical traditions - views his work as a reflection of the cyclical nature of time, the continual processes of transformation, and the connectivity of all things. This is perhaps most evident in the artist’s practice of incorporating parts of earlier works into newer pieces, including several of the works on view in the current exhibition.
Drew’s current work also displays a concrete engagement with language, particularly in works like Number 181, 2016, which includes white stripes reminiscent of lines of text or musical notation. Viewed in detail, the works also recalls ancient writing forms – symbols cut into stone such as hieroglyphics and cuneiform – or possibly letterpress blocks that are worn, reshaped, and reused.
