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Email PagePast and Present
June 8, 2006- July 15, 2006
Hector Leonardi
Dillon Gallery
555 W 25th St Hector Leonardi Agrigento |
Leonardi comes from the second generation of American abstractionists, after the sturm and drang had passed and painters could be free to explore all the possibilities liberated by surface of the canvas. A student of Josef Albers at Yale in the early 1950s, Leonardi mastered color as few of his contemporaries did. But as John Russell has written, "the homage paid here is not to the square. It is, rather, to the ingenuity of light, which can define and redefine a given structure in a hundred different ways.
Over the decades, Leonardi’s work has received glowing reviews in a number of publications and he has developed a loyal following of collectors. But a decade ago he entered upon a period of sustained creativity and experimentation that has resulted in a series of dramatic breakthroughs. The paintings in this exhibition reflect his current vision and several of the compelling paths he has traveled to arrive there. Leonardi works in acrylic, painting directly on the canvas and using strips of paint to build up an intricate surface texture. Each painting develops from a cluster of specific colors and tonalities, like a musical suite, and in its energy, complexity and optical dazzle the work manages to unite the most diverse influences, including, Albers, Gustav Klimt, Paul Signac and Jackson Pollock.
But with these Leonardi can also evoke a powerful undertone of darkness, violence and mystery. It is this power that prompted critic John Yau to write of Leonardi’s previous exhibition, “In making art that looks back at us without blinking, Leonardi is a master.”
Leonardi has had many one-man exhibitions, most recently at the Viewing Room and at Robert Steele Gallery, both in New York City. His paintings are included in many public and private collections.
Books and DVDs related to artists in this show
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