Born 1961 in Tallahassee, Florida. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
EDUCATION
1985 BFA, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, New York, NY
1981-82 Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 Leonardo Drew: Selections from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family
Foundation, Pendleton Center for the Arts, Pendleton, OR
Leonardo Drew, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
Leonardo Drew 2023 JBH, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Material Objects: Louise Nevelson and Leonardo Drew, Tate Modern, London, UK
Leonardo Drew, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton, UK
Leonardo Drew, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TX
New Works, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
2022 Leonardo Drew, Goodman Gallery, London, UK
Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer Foundation, Zuckerman
Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, GA
2021 Leonardo Drew, Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, NY
Leonardo Drew: Two Projects, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT
Leonardo Drew, Galerie Lelong & Co., Paris, France
Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer Foundation,
Eskenazi Museum of Art, University of Indiana; the Frost Art Museum,
Florida International University
2020 Leonardo Drew: Making Chaos Legible, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Leonardo Drew: City in the Grass, Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS
Hammer Projects: Leonardo Drew, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA
Leonardo Drew: New Works, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
2019 Leonardo Drew, Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
Leonardo Drew: Cycles, from the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer Foundation,
University Museum of Contemporary Art, Amherst, MA
Leonardo Drew, Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, NY
Leonardo Drew, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
City in the Grass, Madison Square Park, New York, NY
2017 Number 184T, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR
Leonardo Drew, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
Number 197, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
CAM Raleigh, Raleigh, NC
Recent Acquisition: Leonardo Drew, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
2016 Leonardo Drew, Sikkema Jenkins, New York, NY
Leonardo Drew: Eleven Etchings, Crown Point Press, San Francisco, CA
2015 Leonardo Drew, Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong, China
Unsuspected Possibilities, SITE Santa Fe, NM
Leonardo Drew, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
Leonardo Drew, Pace Prints, New York, NY
Leonardo Drew, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
Leonardo Drew, Vigo, London, UK
2014 Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
2013 Selected Works, SCAD Museum of Art at the Savannah College of Art and Design,
Savannah, GA
Exhumation/Small Works, Canzani Center Gallery at Columbus College of Art &
Design, Columbus, OH
VIGO, London, UK
2012 Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY
Pace Prints, New York, NY
2011 Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
VIGO, London, UK
Galleria Napolinobilissima, Naples, Italy
2010 Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY
Window Works: Leonardo Drew, Artpace, San Antonio, TX
2009 Existed: Leonardo Drew, Blaffer Gallery, the Art Museum of the University of Houston, TX
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, NC
DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, Lincoln, MA
Fine Art Society, London, UK
2007 Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY
2006 Palazzo Delle Papesse, Centro Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy
2005 Brent Sikkema, New York, NY
2002 The Fabric Workshop, Philadelphia, PA
2001 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Ireland
2000 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, NY
1999 Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
1998 Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
1997 Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL
1996 University at Buffalo Art Gallery, Center for the Arts, State University of New York,
Buffalo, NY
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
Currents: Leonardo Drew, Saint Louis Art Museum, Saint Louis, MI
1995 Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA
The Pace Roberts Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
Ground Level Overlay, Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collaboration, New
York, NY
1994 San Francisco Art Institute, Walter/Mc Bean Gallery, San Francisco, CA Thread
Waxing Space, New York, NY
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
1992 Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 From This Nature Springs, Goya Contemporary Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2023 SEEING STARS: Works from the Fischer/Shull Collection of Contemporary Art, Harvey B.
Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC
32Q: 1120 Contemporary Art, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA
The Alchemists, Johnson Lowe Gallery, Atlanta, GA
60 Years of Collecting, University Museum of Contemporary Art, University of
Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA
2022 What’s Going On, Rubell Museum, Washington, DC
A Celebration of Trees, Southampton Arts Center, Southampton, New York
Strange Weather, Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, University of California, CA
The Scene Changes: Sculpture from the Collection, Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE
Start Talking: Fischer/Shull Collection of Contemporary Art, North Carolina Museum of
Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
2021 New Prints and Editions, Galerie Lelong & Co., New York, NY
Hockney to Warhol: Contemporary Drawings from the Collection, The McNay Art
Museum, San Antonio, TX
2020 Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Smith College Museum of Art,
Northampton, MA
Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake
City, UT
Waking Dream, Ruby City, San Antonio, TX
Polyphonic: Celebrating PAMM’s Fund for African American Art, Perez Art Museum
Miami, Miami, FL
Generations: A History of Black Abstract Art, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD
Accidents (Part II), Pearl Lam Galleries, Hong Kong
2019 Mark Bradford, Leonardo Drew, Julie Mehretu, and Wangechi Mutu Jordan Schnitzer
Museum of Art, Pullman, WA
Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Museum of the African Diaspora, San
Francisco, CA
Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
Selections from The Studio Museum in Harlem, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts,
Kalamazoo, MI
2018 The Onrush of Scenery, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY
2017 This is Now, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Between I & Thou, Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
New At the NOMA: Recent Acquisitions in Modern and Contemporary Art, New
Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
Editions, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY
Solidary and Solitary: The Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection,
Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
Emilio Perez and Leonardo Drew, Jacob Lewis Gallery, Dallas, TX
Material Presence, Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX
Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA
2015 Destination Unknown, Talley Dunn Galley, Dallas, Texas
2014 Summer Group Show, Galerie Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland
2013 Material World, Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO
2012 San Antonio Collects Contemporary, San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, TX
Against the Grain - Wood in Contemporary Art, Craft and Design, Mint Museum,
Charlotte, NC
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
2011 Toward the Third Dimension, David Floria Gallery
The Bearden Project, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
2010 From then to Now: Masterworks of Contemporary African American Art, Museum of
Contemporary Art Cleveland, OH
Collected. Reflections on the Permanent Collection, Studio Museum of Harlem, New York, NY
Lost and Found: Selections from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art
(MCA), Chicago, IL
2009 Your Golden Teeth II, Marianne Boesky Galley, New York, NY
2008 30 Americans, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, FL North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC
Corcoran Gallery of Art at the College of Art and Design, Washington, DC
Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA
Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI
2007 New Directions in American Drawing, Columbus Museum, Columbus GA
Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah, GA
Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, TN
Repeat Performances: Seriality and Systems Art since 1960, Allen Memorial Art
Museum, Oberlin College, OH
Reverance, HVCCA – Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art, Peekskill, NY
2006 Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery, The New York Historical Society, New York, NY
Black Alphabet: Contexts of Contemporary African American Art, Zacheta National
Gallery of Art, Warsaw, Poland
2005 Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, NY, 2005
Leonardo Drew/Kara Walker, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin, Germany
Between Image and Concept: Recent Acquisitions in African-American Art,
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
2004 Material Pleasures, Green on Red Gallery, Dublin
2003 Hands on, Hands down, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
From Modernism to the Contemporary, 1958-1999, The Allen Memorial Art Museum,
Oberlin, OH
2001 Brooklyn!, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, FL
2000 Vanitas: Meditations on Life and Death in Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine
Arts, Richmond, VA
1998 Passages: Contemporary Art in Transition, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
Bill Jenson/Leonardo Drew, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
1997 New Work: Words & Images, Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida
1996 Leonardo Drew/Mark Francis/Oliver Herring, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
1995 About Place: Recent Art of the Americas, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Pace Roberts Foundation for Contemporary Art, San Antonio, TX
1995 Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA
1994 Promising Suspects, The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT
1993 Markets of Resistance, White Columns, New York, NY
1992 Biennial Dakar, Senegal
Three Sculptors: Leonardo Drew, Lisa Hoke, Brad Kahlhamer, Thread Waxing Space,
New York, NY
1991 From the Studio: Artists in Residence, 1990-91, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2017 Curiel, Jonathan. “Peabrain-ism and a Love Supreme,” SF Weekly, 5 April 2017.
Greenberg, Blue. “Transforming hurricane wreckage into art,” The Herald Sun, 14 March 2017.
“First Friday at CAM,” WRal.com, 3 March 2017.
Sparrow. “”Between I & Thou” at Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art,”
Chronogram, 31 January 2017.
2016 Ponnekanti, Rosemary. “Review: ‘30 Americans’ wows with size, but leaves you
wondering about subtleties,” The News Tribune, 4 October 2016.
Weiss, Haley. “Leonardo Drew And The Mother,” Interview Magazine, September 2016.
2015 “New Ways of Seeing: Beyond Culture,” Dorsky Gallery, Long Island City, NY 2014 Martinez,
Alanna. “Sneak Peak: Preview ART21’s Season 7 Episode With Leonardo
Drew.” Blouin Artinfo, 26 August 2014.
“Untitled Catalogue of Collection,” Boston, MA: Wellington Management LLP.
2013 Proenza, Mary. “Leonardo Drew - Sikkema Jenkins.” Art in America Jan. 2013: 98-99. St.
Louis Art Museum. Celebrate African and African American Art. Saint Louis: St.
Louis Art Museum, 2013. Print.
2012 D'Alton, Martina, and Holly Hotchner. Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art,
Craft and Design. New York: Museum of Arts and Design, 2012. Print.
Fiske, Courtney. "Critc’s Pick: Leonardo Drew." Artforum.com. Artforum International,
20 Sept. 2012. Web. <http://artforum.com/archive/id=34491>. Eden, Xandra, and
Valerie Cassel Oliver. Leonardo Drew. Milan: Charta, 2012. Harris-Kelley, Diedra.
The Bearden Project. New York, NY: Studio Museum in Harlem, 2012. Print.
Saltz, Jerry. “Burnt Offering.” New York Magazine 24 Sept. 2012.
Kley, Elizabeth. “Leonardo Drew - Sikkema Jenkins.” ARTnews Dec. 2012: 108-09.
2011 Baker, Kenneth. "Leonardo Drew, Will Yackulic: Sculpture, Paintings." Review. San
Francisco Chronicle 23 Apr. 2011: E-3.
2010 Cochran, Rebecca D. “Leonardo Drew: Epic Mythologies of Detritus.” Sculpture April
2010: 34-9.
Halperen, Max. “Leonardo Drew.” Rev. of Existed: Leonardo Drew. Art Papers Mar.-
Apr. 2010, 49.
Main, Stephen. “Leonardo Drew: Sikkema Jenkins.” Art in America June-July 2010:177.
Re:collection: Selected Works from the Studio Museum in Harlem. New York: Studio
Museum in Harlem, 2010.
Shuster, Robert. “Leonardo Drew at Sikkema Jenkins.” Village Voice 16 Feb. 2010 Arts sec.
Smith, Roberta. "Swagger and Sideburns: Bad Boys in Galleries." New York Times 12
Feb. 2010, Arts sec.: C25.
"WindowWorks 10.3: Leonardo Drew." Artpace Fall 2010: 14.
2009 Devine, John. “Leonardo Drew, rev of Leonardo Drew” Art Lies Fall 2009.
Britt, Douglas. “Blaffer’s Leonardo Drew Survey Hits a Home Run.” Houston Chronicle
10 July 2009.
Britt, Douglas. “Existed explores death and decay,” Houston Chronicle 14 May 2009.
Neil, Jonathan T.D. “30 Americans.” Art Review Mar. 2009: 128-29.
Schmuckli, Claudia. Existed: Leonardo Drew, Houston: Blaffer Gallery, 2009.
2008 “The 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art”. Journal
of the Print World, Inc. Summer 2008. ISSN 0737-7436
Nichols, Matthew Guy. “The Taxonomy of Ruin,” Art in America, January 2008, pp.
112-115
Klein, Jennie. ‘Repeat Performances: Seriality and Systems Art since 1960, Artpapers,
Mar-Apr, p. 65
Kunitz, Daniel. “The Grab Bag Anthology”. ARTS+ June 2008
Rosenberg, Karen. ‘Where have all the Paintings gone?” The New York Times, May
30, 2008
The 183rd Annual: An Invitational Exhibition of Contemporary American Art .
(exhibition catalogue). National Academy Museum & School of Fine Arts.
2008. ISSN 2008- 1590-National Academy of Design.
2007 Baker, Kenneth. “Grand Tour Detours.” Art + Auction June 2007: 170-75.
New Directions in American Drawing, (exhibition catalog) 2007 Columbus Museum,
Columbus, GA. ISBN: 1882650190
2006 Drake, Cathryn. “Leonardo Drew: Palazzo delle Papesse- Centro Arte
Contemporanea.” Artforum International Summer 2006: 363-64.
Richer, Francesca, and Matthew Rosenzweig, ed. No. 1: First Works by 362 Artists,
d.a.p. ISBN 1-933045-09-4.
Brewinska, Maria. Black Alphabet – contexts of Contemporary African American Art,
(Exhibition Catalogue) Zacheta Narodowa Galeria Sztuki, Warsaw, Poland.
Sims, Lowery Stokes, Hulser, Kathleen, Copeland, Cynthia R. Legacies: Contemporary
Artists Reflect on Slavery, The New York Historical Society, NY, NY (Exhibition catalog)
Wolin, Joseph R. “Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery,” Time Out New
York, July 6 – 12.
“Legacies: Contemporary Artists Reflect on Slavery Opens at the New York Historical
Society,” Daily Challenge, June 30.
Boyd, Herb. “A Fresh Perspective on Slavery,” New York Amsterdam News, July 6.
Bloomberg.com, posted June 23.
ABN. “Exhibit Shows Slavery’s Cultural Impact,” Art Business News, May 1. “Artist
Reflect on Slavery at N-YHS,” artnet.com, posted March 17.
“New York to Chicago...,” David Patrick Columbia’s New York Social Diary, posted July 6.
Bernard, Audrey J. “Kickin’ It: Exquisite Show Deals with How Racially Based Slavery
Has Shaped Our Society,” The New York Beacon, July 6 – 12.
“Exhibit to Focus on the Legacy of Slavery,” The Bronx News, 1 June 2006.
2005 Amy, Michael. Art in America, September 2005, p. 152
2001 “Leonardo Drew”, The New Yorker, 29 January 2001, p. 18.
Glueck, Grace. “Walls That Talk to You About Talking to Walls”, The New York Times, 2
February 2001, p. E38.
Leffingwell, Edward. “Leonardo Drew at Mary Boone”, Art in America, April 2001, p. 133.
Brooklyn! Lake Worth: Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, 2001. Print.
2000 Dobrzynski, Judith H. “Extracting Metaphors From Life's Detritus”, The New York Times,
2 February 2000, pp. E1, E8.
O'Sullivan, Michael. ‘A Trash Course in Sculpture”, The Washington Post, 26 March
2000, pp. G1, G4-G5.
1997 Edwards, Lorraine. “Navigating a Sea of Chaos”, Sculpture, February 1997, pp. 18-21.
(illus: "Number 56", Cover, C).
Haye, Christian. “Leonardo Drew”, Frieze, May 1997, pp. 81-82.
1996 Kimmelman, Michael. “New things that look old and ravaged”, The New York Times,
13 September 1996, p. C26.
Yablonsky, Linda. “Leonardo Drew”, Time Out New York, 10 October 1996, p. 30.
Johnson, Ken. “Leonardo Drew at Mary Boone”, Art In America, November 1996.
pp. 113-114.
Mac Adam, Barbara A. “Leonardo Drew”, Art News, November 1996, p. 130.
1995 Melrod, George. “Material Witness”, World Art, December 1995, pp. 34-39.
1994 Cotter, Holland. “Art in Review: Leonardo Drew, Barbara Toll Gallery & Thread
Waxing Space”, The New York Times, 1 April 1994, p. C20.
1993 Nesbitt, Lois. “Leonardo Drew, Thread Waxing Space”, ArtForum, January 1993, p. 87.
Als, Hilton. “Openings: Leonardo Drew”, ArtForum, February 1993, p. 94.
Naves, Mario. “Reviews: Leonardo Drew, Thread Waxing Space”, New Art Examiner,
February 1993, p. 29.
Heartney, Eleanor. “Leonardo Drew at Thread Waxing Space”, Art In America, March
1993, pp. 112-113.
1992 Kimmelman, Michael. “Art in Review: Leonardo Drew”, The New York Times, 27
November 1992, p. C23.
1989 Brenson, Michael. “Sculptors Using the Wall as Venue and Inspiration”, The New York
Times, 24 February 1989, p. C30.
MONOGRAPHS
Eden, Xandra, and Valerie Cassel Oliver. Leonardo Drew. Milan: Charta, 2012.
Schmuckli, Claudia. Existed: Leonardo Drew (Houston: Blaffer Gallery, 2009).
New Directions in American Drawing (Georgia: Columbus Museum, 2007).
Kanjo, Kathryn. Leonardo Drew (San Diego, California: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1995).
Krajewski, Sara. Leonardo Drew(Madison, Wisconsin: Madison Art Center, 1999).
Nye, Tim and Thomas McEvilley. Leonardo Drew (New York: Thread Waxing Space, 1992).
Bush, Teresia. Leonardo Drew (Washington, DC: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 2000)
Strick, Jeremy. Leonardo Drew (St. Louis, Missouri: Saint Louis Art Museum, 1996).
Als, Hilton. Leonardo Drew (New York: Thread Waxing Space, 1994).
Schwabsky, Barry. Leonardo Drew: Existing Everywhere (Prato: Gli Ori, 2006).
PUBLIC COMMISSIONS
2023 Leonardo Drew, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas
2019 City in the Grass, Madison Square Park, New York, New York
Number 69S, San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California
AWARDS
2022 National Academy of Design
2016 GSA Design Award, Citation in Art
2011 Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize
1997 Asian Cultural Council Grant
1995 ArtPace Artist in Residence
1994 Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant
1993 Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation Grant
1991 The Studio Museum in Harlem, Artist in Residence
1990 Vermont Studio School, Artist in Residence
1998 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Artist in Residence
SELECT MUSEUM AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, New York
Caldic Collectie, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami, Florida
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan
Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hallmark Art Collection, Kansas City, Missouri
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, Texas
McNay Museum of Art, San Antonio, Texas
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
Mott-Warsh Collection, Flint, Michigan
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh
Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, Florida
Philbrook Museum of Art, Tulsa, Oklahoma
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, New Jersey
Progressive Art Collection, Mayfield Village, Ohio
Jordan Schnitzer Family Foundation
Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Bloomington, Indiana
Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, New York
Sorigue Foundation Collection, Lérida, Spain
St Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, Missouri
Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York
Tate, London, England, United Kingdom
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Walton Arts Center, Fayetteville, Arkansas
Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
West Collection, Oaks, Pennsylvania