PRESS RELEASE

Leonardo Drew: Works on Paper

26 August – 1 October 2021

Anthony Meier Fine Arts is pleased to present an exhibition of new works on paper, the gallery’s fourth solo exhibition with Brooklyn-based artist Leonardo Drew.

Known for his abstract sculptural works, Leonardo Drew creates artworks that expand and explode into the space they occupy. Typically working in large scale with raw materials including wood, cotton and scrap metal – all carrying references to America’s past – Drew transforms chaos into balanced order while addressing social and historical topics.

In this suite of works on paper, Drew employs a similar aesthetic on a smaller scale. Collaged sculptures of plaster bits, paint chunks, cast paper and bundled straw fit neatly into a square frame. The intentional scale and finite border lend order from the outside in, a clear juxtaposition to the familiar expression within.

Leonardo Drew was born in 1961 in Tallahassee, Florida. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His works have been shown internationally and are held in numerous public collections including the deYoung Museum, San Francisco; San Francisco International Airport; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; and Tate, London.

Recent solo museum exhibitions include Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Madison Square Park, New York; SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2013); the Columbus College of Art & Design (2013); Palazzo Delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy (2006); and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. (2000). Drew’s mid-career survey, Existed, premiered at the Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston in 2009, and traveled to the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA. Drew has exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland; The Art Institute of Chicago; The Miami Art Museum and the St. Louis Art Museum.  A mid-career survey exhibition, Existed: Leonardo Drew, debuted at the Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston in 2009 and continued to the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA.