LEONARDO DREW (AMERICAN, B. 1961)

Footnote
Drew was born in Tallahassee, Florida but spent much of his youth in the projects of Bridgeport, Connecticut.  The view from his apartment consisted largely of garbage dumps which he was drawn to and provided the first materials for his sculpture and installation.  He showed a prodigious talent from a young age, exhibiting in his teenage years.  He attended the Parsons school of Design in New York before attaining a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Cooper Union in 1985.  Four years later ‘Number 8’ was exhibited at Kenkeleba House in New York’s Lower East Side where it was critically acclaimed as ‘…an aggressive assertion of an artistic identity wrought from personal experience and cultural heritage.’  Further exhibitions increased Drew’s profile leading to his first solo show at the Thread Waxing Space on Broadway in 1992.

Drew’s works are generally titled clinically, with a number, providing the viewer with no clue as to the interpretation of a piece.  Themes of decay, destruction and regeneration dominate his output along with a commentary on environmental issues.  The present work, number 50, continues to explore these themes, creating a challenging contrast between the organic material of wool and multiple layers of plastic and textile; the latter sections are dusted with rust, a recurring medium in Drew’s work which he often manufactures with the application of chemicals.  The twelve panels are not symmetrically divided, with seven dedicated to synthetic materials, alluding perhaps to an increasing reliance on the man-made over the natural.

Drew’s work forms part of numerous significant collections including Tate Modern, London, MOMA, New York and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.