Galerie Lelong & Co., announces an upcoming solo exhibition by Leonardo Drew, the artist’s third with the gallery, opening September 5, 2024. As with all of Drew’s exhibitions and artworks, the presentation remains untitled, allowing viewers to complete the work themselves by forming a highly individual understanding of the work.

Central to the exhibition will be an explosive site-specific installation encompassing the entire main gallery, based around a conical form that responds to the architectural features of the space by wrapping around its central column. This will be complemented by a selection of wall-mounted works distinct in the artist’s oeuvre for their bold use of color and reflective materials. Central to the artist’s practice is an enduring need to create and re-create, and across the works on view—through the reimagining of reused materials and the introduction of new ones—Drew demonstrates his continued expansion of the possibilities of his practice.

The main gallery space will be transformed by a monumental installation, comprised in part of plywood used first in his 2019 exhibition at the gallery then repurposed for installations at the 2022 edition of Art Basel Unlimited and a 2023 solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park. A tapered vertical form rising fourteen feet will emphasize the height of the space. Wooden panels with textures from paint, sand and exposed wood attached at varying angles visually signify movement and the cycle of destruction and construction. A similar form appeared as the focal point of Drew’s 2023 exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where it took inspiration from the park’s 18th century chapel. Now, the conical installation is recontextualized to reflect the gallery’s modern, industrial Chelsea home. This central form will be complemented by elements on the walls and floor, contributing to an epic visual journey between chaos and legibility, with accumulation of material a potent emotional and formal statement.

The smaller gallery space will feature a selection of wall-based works demonstrative of Drew’s signature technique: hand-distressing new materials to form geometric assemblages that reference the entropy of nature and change. Sculptures that incorporate mirrors, a new material for Drew, will be on view, demonstrating his continued innovation of materiality. The exhibition follows the unveiling of Drew’s first permanent public outdoor work at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, which is also the artist’s first foray into the use of painted bronze.

This exhibition coincides with the debut of Drew’s latest commission for the Phoenix Museum of Art, Arizona, which will be on view at the institution from August 13, 2024.

galerielelong.com