Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family
Foundation
February 19—May 7, 2022
Curated by Loretta Yarlow, Director of the University Museum of Contemporary Art,
UMass, Amherst
The Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation is honored to present the exhibition Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation and to publish the accompanying exhibition brochure as part of an ongoing effort
to share work from the collection and to support critical dialogue. Jordan Schnitzer
states, “I often speak of how difficult it is to be an artist. And the struggle to
challenge, risk, transform and innovation are certainly at the heart of Leonardo Drew’s
visual language. His work is immersive and personal without being leading. It is up
to the viewer to interpret and participate in the communion of physical form and individual
history. Leonardo’s work makes tangible a refuge that allows for self-reflection and
perhaps space in which to contemplate the constructs of beauty.”
Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family
Foundation, features many of Drew’s sculptures as well as numerous prints and works in handmade
paper. Leonardo Drew’s prints, at once powerfully large yet fragile, test the versatility
of the medium, transforming cotton paper pulp and pigment into what suggests densely
populated cities, a forest, or an urban wasteland. They sometimes look like maps of
geographical landscapes viewed from above, while others are reminiscent of the night
sky and distant galaxies. Evocative of fire, soil, sky, and water, there are strong
perceptions in both microcosmic and macrocosmic scale. Organic forms within the composition
undulate with various textures and luminosities, pushing the boundaries of its materiality.
Much like his sculptural installations in wood, Drew starts with a raw material, transforming
and reconstructing its essence until it resembles debris. Through this process, the
artist articulates diverse histories of chaos, and cycles of birth and death. Examples
of the Drew’s sculptures will also be on view. Using a variety of off-the-shelf materials
(wood, cardboard, paint, paper, plastic, rope, and string) combined with natural materials
such as branches or tree trunks, Drew subjects these elements to processes of oxidation,
burning, and weathering. These labor-intense manipulations mimic natural processes
and transforms these objects into sculptures that address both formal and social concerns,
as well as the cyclical nature of existence.
New York Times art critic Roberta Smith describes Drew’s work as “popped, 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.”
Featured image: Leonardo Drew, Number 58P, 2017, edition of 3, pigmented, printed, and cast handmade paper © Leonardo Drew
Photo courtesy of Pace Prints
-
About the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
At age 14, Jordan D. Schnitzer bought his first work of art from his mother’s Portland,
Oregon contemporary art gallery, evolving into a lifelong avocation as collector.
He began collecting contemporary prints and multiples in earnest in 1988. Today, the
collection exceeds 19,000 works and includes many of today’s most important contemporary
artists. It has grown to be one of the country’s largest private print collections.
He generously lends work from his collection to qualified institutions. The Foundation
has organized over 110 exhibitions and has had art exhibited at over 160 museums.
Mr. Schnitzer is also President of Harsch Investment Properties, a privately owned
real estate investment company based in Portland, Oregon, owning and managing office,
multi-tenant industrial, multi-family and retail properties in six western states.
For more information about the Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation, please visit jordanschnitzer.org.
-
Leonardo Drew was born in 1961 in Tallahassee, FL, and grew up in Bridgeport, CT.
His talent and passion for art was recognized at an early age, and first exhibited
his work at the age of 13. He attended the Parsons School of Design and received his
BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 1985. Recent solo
museum exhibitions include shows at de Young Museum, San Francisco (2017); SCAD Museum
of Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design (2013); Beeler Gallery at the Columbus
College of Art & Design (2013); Palazzo Delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea,
Siena (2006); Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2001); and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture
Garden, Washington DC (2000). Drew’s mid-career survey, Existed, premiered at the
Blaffer Gallery at the University of Houston in 2009. The exhibition went on to the
Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, NC, and the de Cordova Museum and Sculpture
Park in Lincoln, MA.
Drew’s work is included in numerous public and private collections. Public collections
include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los
Angeles; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; Crystal Bridges
Museum of American Art, Bentonville; and Tate, London. He has collaborated with the
Merce Cunningham Dance Company and has participated in artist residencies at ArtPace,
San Antonio, Texas, and The Studio Museum in Harlem, among others. In 2011 he was
awarded the prestigious Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize by The Studio Museum in
Harlem. Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York City has commissioned Leonardo
Drew to create a monumental new public art project for the Park, titled “City in the Grass.”
-
- Public Opening Reception: Sunday, February 20, 2022, 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Artist Lecture: Leonardo Drew, February 19, 2022, at 6:00 pm in the ZMA
