Leonardo Drew
at Sikkema Jenkins & Co., January 30-March 6
Image from the Sikkema Jenkins website
I first became aware of Leonardo Drew's work when Gwen Plunkett posted images on her blog from his big show last summer at the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston, called Existed: Leonardo Drew. It was his first mid-career survey in the U.S. and had 14 major sculptures made between 1991 and 2005, plus a new installation made just for the gallery and 12 works on paper. It looked fabulous. There were also three videos (now down to two) on the gallery website and I'm including one below where he talks about the meaning of his work: birth - life - death = regeneration.
I bought the catalog from the show (also called Existed: Leonardo Drew) from Amazon (here's the link) and it was just fabulous.
So here are more images of Drew's work (taken from his website).
Number 31A, 1999, wood and paper, 120 x 172 x 8 inches
Detail of Number 31A
Number 43, 1995, fabric, wood, rust, 132 x 444 x 5 inches
Detail of Number 43
Number 75, 2000, rust, wood, miscellaneous objects, 144 x 144 x 4 inches
Detail of Number 75
In regard to regeneration, Drew believes in regenerating work from other work so he may combine pieces, such as he did with Number 75. It became part of Number 77, as follows.
Number 77, 2000, rust, wood, miscellaneous objects, 204 x 672 x 4 i nches (that's 17 x 56 feet). That's a lot of miscellany.
I hope you find Leonardo Drew's work as exciting and evocative as I do. There is such meaning in cast-off, decaying things - all the stuff of our lives that is so important until it isn't anymore. Then it becomes just so much detritus, evidence of lives lived and time passed. The objects take on a significance of their own and their decay reminds us of our own decay and mortality. Time adds a patina of rust, grime and weather. It's heavy but beautiful, what Drew refers to as "emotional weight."
