LEONARDO DREW

Renewal, decay, fragmentation and reconfiguration are central to Leonardo Drew’s practice. Using hand-weathered raw materials—washed, burnt, broken and reassembled—his works carry a history embedded in their form. Everyday and industrial objects retain traces of their original structure, revealing the tension between destruction and regeneration. Through nonlinear compositions, Drew embraces disorder and disintegration as part of a continuous cycle of interpretation. In his largely monochrome works, colour becomes physical rather than purely visual—another material shaped by time and process.

Through abstraction, Drew’s sculptures offer a vast repertoire of imagery. Works such as Number 440, Number 441, and Number 444 are dense and layered compositions that feature geometric formations — the repetition of squares that collectively form a larger square gives the works a structured, grid-like presence. Conceptually, the work alludes to entropy—not as a direct depiction of order and chaos, but as an undercurrent accentuating the fragility of form and the possibility of transformation. Crisscrossed ruins, tessellated fragments, and broken remnants recur throughout, reflecting an assemblage process that is both methodical and intuitive. Defined by open forms, asymmetry, and subtle gradations in colour, scale and texture, the works reveal a delicate balance between structure and unpredictability.

Drew continues his practice of assigning numbers as titles to the works—such as Number 429, Number 439 and Number 446—a deliberate choice that resists finality and keeps the interpretation of the work open to multiple readings. The numbers, which are not static but rather accumulate progressively, highlight the notion that each individual work is a composite of many ideas and previous works that have been subsumed, layers upon layers that are embedded into the final image. In this way, the number acts as a reminder that what we see is the result of many ideas and influences that have come before.

Drew’s latest presentation follows notable milestones, including his solo exhibition at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2023 and his participation in the ‘Materials and Objects’ permanent collection display at Tate Modern, London. This exhibition marks Drew’s return to Goodman Gallery London following his successful solo show in 2022 and his recent exhibition at Goodman Johannesburg in 2023.

Leonardo Drew (b. 1961, Tallahassee, Florida) is a New York-based artist who, over three decades, has become known for creating contemplative abstract sculptural works. In May Drew will open his first solo institutional exhibition in London, featuring a new immersive site-specific installation.

Solo museum exhibitions include the Zuckerman Museum of Art at Kennesaw State University (2022); Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson (2020); North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (2020); de Young Museum, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, California (2017); 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 travelled to the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

In 2019, Drew was commissioned for a new outdoor project for Madison Square Park, marking the Madison Square Park Conservancy’s 38th public commission and the artist’s first major public art project. The installation, titled City in the Grass, has since travelled to the North Carolina Museum of Art, the Mississippi Museum of Art and The Wadsworth Atheneum.

Drew’s works are included in public collections around the world, including Tate, London; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.