Entropy perfectly captures the essence of Leonardo Drew’s work: the randomness that changes in creation, the level of disorder that pervades all aspects of life but ultimately finds its measure, becoming a force that adds complexity to life. Pieces of wood, painted in various colors, traverse the gallery space, resembling the effects of a storm. However, in the midst of this chaos, there is a remarkable consistency in the way the colors come together some poems on the intrusion of the personal into comedy that points to Drew’s previous talent in that field.
Drew’s upcoming exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co., “Leonardo Drew,” repurposes pieces of material from his previous works and exhibitions into large-scale site-specific installations and explosions. The exhibition remains untitled, and the works are represented only by a series of numbers and codes. The artist deliberately avoids giving specific explanations for this composition, leaving it open for the viewers to interpret and engage with. in the dialectic process of saying.
As Drew explained during our tour, he considers himself a catalyst: his art is about receiving, transmitting and amplifying the flow of energy and particles that define the universe. “Within you, you have to have the idea that there is an interaction between us, and other big things in the universe, much bigger than us,” he told the Observer. By following the movement of particles and atoms on a large scale, Drew allows these particles to settle and coalesce into constellations of new material. “Each of those jobs informs about incoming work. I often work like seven things, and I keep changing.”
As we examine his artistic process, it is clear that Leonardo Drew’s work is more spiritual than physics or science. It is closely related to Eastern philosophies, which emphasize the continuous circulation of materials and forces that sustain existence and fuel its restless evolution. “The actual concept of creating these things works, but it’s not part of our physical world,” is how he explained it. “You need to have a foundation that you work on, which is your philosophy, your spirituality, your way of accepting and walking on this planet.”
During our conversation, Drew acknowledged the huge influence Asia, especially China, has had on his artistic direction. The different strengths of different areas come from his work and his attitude towards it. “When I was in China, I started breaking the clay vases I was making there,” he said. The artisans there felt that it was garbage, so they started to throw it away. I was like, this is not rubbish, actually. “
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At its core, his practice is about seeing and listening to his objects, and maintaining a heightened awareness of his position in space. It’s about “getting along,” he says, which keeps him focused on the piece in front of him. His process is one of intuitive design, building with existing materials. He describes his work as sculptural abstraction. “I’m off the wall,” he said, but what he’s doing goes beyond that definition, crossing boundaries. “People want to categorize it and define it, but all boundaries are broken in the process.”
For Drew, his artistic awakening moment came in the library when he came across Jackson Pollock’s work in a book. This revelation made him leave a promising career with Marvel or DC Comics. “It was something I really thought about when I was growing up in the hood,” he recalled. “The poison came when I saw Jackson Pollock in a book in the library; from that moment on, I knew I had to go through a pre-made place. There is more than that. So I started trying to understand what this was all about.”
The exhibition at Galerie Lelong & Co. he combines with other new works where painted concrete blocks form grids, suggesting a return to human-controlled order amidst the chaotic flow of all things. Drew explained that the switch to blocks was born out of a practical need to move his work easily in and out of the studio. Yet these fragments, once seemingly useless and broken, find renewed meaning within the multiplicity of the collective, such as atoms, organizations and people—which draw them to purpose and significance.
A larger piece on the entry wall resembles a code, almost like an alphabet, that Drew has developed over the years through various projects. It includes pieces of his Madison Park sculpture, his last gallery show and other works, making it a potential star collection that Drew refers to as “a catalog of things that come from living life in these real words.” This work includes a coded set of possible forms, which show how objects can find shape and meaning in space. By staging and playing with the laws of the universe, Drew’s show shows, physically and experientially, how chaos can give birth to new forms and meanings. His work depicts the cyclical nature of life and decay, caught in an endless dance of creation and destruction—revealing the ultimate purpose of the universe through the beauty it always creates.
