Leonardo Drew

Installation Images

Selected Works

Leonardo Drew
Number 229TD, 2022
Plaster and paint on paper
36h x 36w x 5d inches
Leonardo Drew
Number 232TD, 2022
Plaster and paint on paper
36h x 36w x 5d inches
Leonardo Drew
Number 216TD, 2022
Plaster and paint on paper
36h x 36w inches
Leonardo Drew
Number 213T, 2021
Wood and paint
96h x 2 3/4w x 5d inches
Leonardo Drew
Number 246T, 2023
Mixed media
72h x 72w x 25d inches

Biography

Leonardo Drew is known for creating reflective abstract sculptural works that play upon the dystopic tension between order and chaos. Recalling Post Minimalist sculpture that alludes to America’s industrial past, as well as the plight of African Americans throughout U.S. history. One could find many meanings in his work, but ultimately the cyclical nature of life and decay can be seen in his grids of transformed raw material to resemble and articulate entropy and a visual erosion of time.

Drew’s natural talent and passion for art was recognized at an early age, first exhibiting 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. His works have been shown nationally and internationally and are included in numerous public and private collections. Public institutions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; and Tate, London, among others, as well as collaborating with Merce Cunningham on the production of “Ground Level Overlay.”  New York Times art critic Roberta Smith describes his large reliefs as “pocked, splintered, seemingly burned here, bristling there, unexpectedly delicate elsewhere. An endless catastrophe seen from above. The energies intimated in these works are beyond human control, bigger than all of us.” He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

 

Exhibitions

On-site and Individual Works

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew
Talley Dunn Gallery
September 9 – December 9, 2023

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew
Talley Dunn Gallery
January 28 – March 18, 2023

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew
Talley Dunn Gallery
September 15 – December 15, 2020

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew: New Works
Talley Dunn Gallery
Online exclusive

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew
Talley Dunn Gallery
October 20 – December 16, 2017

Off-site

Leonardo Drew

Leonardo Drew
Yorkshire Sculpture Park
March 18 – October 29, 2023

Leonardo Drew

Number 235T
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
June 17, 2023 – June 9, 2024

Leonardo Drew

Two Projects
Wadsworth Atheneum
June 4, 2021 – January 2, 2022

Leonardo Drew

City in the Grass
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
February 1 – September 7, 2020

Leonardo Drew

Hammer Projects
The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
December 21, 2019  – May 20, 2020

Leonardo Drew

Cycles
University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of Massachusetts Amherst
September 20  – December 8, 2019

Leonardo Drew

City in the Grass
Madison Square Park
June 3 – September 30, 2019

Leonardo Drew

Mark Bradford, Leonardo Drew, Julie Mehretu, and Wangechi Mutu
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Washington State University, Pullman
January 15  – March 9, 2019

Leonardo Drew

Number 184T
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
December 1, 2017 –
December 1, 2021

Leonardo Drew

Material Presence: Tara Donovan, Leonardo Drew, Maya Lin, Louise Nevelson, and Fred Wilson
Talley Dunn Gallery
March 25 – May 20, 2017

Leonardo Drew

Number 197
de Young museum
March 25 – October 29, 2017

Videos

Press

Dallas Morning News

“The explosive, exquisitely composed art of Leonardo Drew is on display in the D-FW area”
by Scott Cantrell
September 25, 2023

Forbes

“In A Candid Interview, Leonardo Drew Discusses His Latest Art Installation And Why Art Matters”
by Nargess Banks
March 24, 2023

Colossal

“Blackened Plywood Shards Rupture Inside Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Chapel in Leonardo Drew’s New Installation”
by Grace Ebert
March 24, 2023

Financial Times

“Artist Leonardo Drew’s explosive sculptures draw order from chaos”
by Caroline Roux
June 9, 2022

Dallas Morning News

“Intimate Dallas gallery provides unusual treat of artist Leonardo Drew’s work without the crowds”
by Benjamin Lima
October 21, 2020

New York Times

“Making Public Art a Contender” 
by Hilarie M. Sheets
March 12, 2019

New York Times

“Leonardo Drew Rides His Magic Carpet to a New Field” 
by Hilarie M. Sheets
May 30, 2019

Artforum

“Leonardo Drew: Blaffer Art Museum” 
by Garland Fielder
May 2009