Category: Exhibitions

December 2nd, 2022 – January 15th, 2023

As a prominent creative force within the local Denver community, Joshua Ware’s work inhabitis numerous spaces, from public scuplture, to intimate literary readings, to published articles on exhibitions and profiles on other local artists. His involvement within the community is both generous and impactful.

Leon is honored to present Ware’s first solo exhibition with our gallery space, which will include a variety of sculptural work that he has been developing and creating over the past several years. “And You May Find Yourself Becoming Oblique In An Age of Mass Extinction”, will showcase the artist’s explorations into form, texture, and color, which collectively create a unique and authentic lexicon of sculptural expression.

Artist Bio:

Joshua Ware is an artist and writer who was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his doctorate in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Nebraska and lives in Denver, Colorado. His work has shown both nationally and internationally, and his public sculptures are on display in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Grand Junction. Ware regularly writes art reviews—most recently for Southwest Contemporary—and is the author of Homage to Homage to Homage to Creeley and Unwanted Invention / Vargtimmen.

Artist Statement:

‘[Objects] are radically mysterious…this thing I can see right here is ungraspable. It’s totally vivid, yet I can’t get a grip on it.

-Timothy Morton, “And You May Find Yourself Living in an Age of Mass Extinction”

Moments of disorientation are vital. They are bodily experiences that throw the world up or throw the body from its ground…Disorientation could be described here as the ‘becoming oblique’ of the world, a becoming that is at once interior and exterior.

-Sara Ahmed, Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others

Object-Oriented Ontology argues that objects are unknowable to a subject. An artwork, for instance, is a mystery even to the artist who created it: something ungraspable that fosters an ambiguous space composed of both seduction and repulsion. While uncertain, though, the object opens itself up to the world and asks us to approach it with flexibility and humility, thus producing an ethics of (ecological) attunement toward the world.

Queer Phenomenology suggests that, rather than orienting ourselves to the world and the objects within it, we allow ourselves to become disoriented. In other words, to unsettle ourselves and our bodies in order to approach an object differently. To untether ourselves from our expectations. To lose our place. To fail in our orientations so our interactions with an object become strange. To become oblique in both body and mind.

Looking at the objects in this exhibit—some of which I created years ago, others just weeks ago—I am struck by how strange they appear to me now, when considered retrospectively. What I thought I knew of them, I must concede, was more a projection of my own desires. My own ideology. Rather than offer an overarching statement predicated on certainty or opinion, I present you (and myself) with a challenge: let these objects remain unknown; instead, let us offer them solidarity: a communing through aesthetic and embodied experience. In doing so, I would like that we let ourselves disorient from our old ways of seeing, knowing, critiquing, and experiencing an artwork. Be lost. Be uncertain. Embrace an ecological ethics in the Anthropocene that acknowledges objects’ unknown essence and our own uncertainties. Become oblique.

Photo credit: Amanda Tipton Photography

You can read Ray Rinaldi’s Denver Post review of this exhibition here.

Leon is thrilled to welcome back bunny M for their second solo exhibition, ‘the
butterfly armoire’. The exhibition will feature 54 paintings celebrating the beauty of
butterflies and their designation as symbols of the psyche. 50 of the paintings will have
a corresponding 1/1 nft. The physical paintings, as well as the nfts, can be purchased
independently but are offered at a discount when a bonded pair is kept together.

The following week, on Thursday, October 20th, Leon will be hosting an nft workshop
with IndieDAO (indiedao.xyz), a collective of tech aficionados who offer professional
services for app design, development, illustration, NFT projects and much more. The
evening will feature a discussion on the real potential for nfts within the art market, and
a walkthrough of instructions explaining how collectors new to nfts can set up their
own online wallet and begin collecting.

You can browse the available NFTs on OpenSea by clicking here

Artist Bio:
bunny M is a painter, fine artist, and muralist. An enduring figure in urban art, M’s
paintings have been featured in numerous art books, publications, galleries, and on
walls both domestically and abroad for over 13 years.

Artist Statement:
‘the butterfly armoire’ is inspired by an innocent childhood memory about trying to own
beauty itself and unintentionally destroying it instead.

http://www.bunnym.com

image credit: Amanda Tipton Photography

When

Friday, October 7, 2022 10:00 AM – Sunday, October 9, 2022 5:00 PM

Where

Leon Gallery, 1112 E 17th Ave, Denver, CO 80218

Event Description

Denverite is proud to present the photography of visual journalist Kevin Beaty at Leon Gallery this October. “Denverite Presents Denverites” will showcase portraits of Denverites made by Beaty in his six years working for the news site.

The show, which will run October 7-9, features dozens of portraits of the people who make Denver. The collection is a community of portraiture that brings our shared humanity into a gallery environment. Individually, each photograph represents one story. Together, they demonstrate the diversity of culture and experience that makes Denver dynamic and unique.

Beaty has been Denverite’s visual journalist since it was founded in 2016. His curiosity for the people and stories of Denver has garnered him numerous journalism awards, including four first-place awards from the Society of Professional Journalists Top of the Rockies Awards in 2022.

“Denverite Presents Denverites” is free and open to the public October 7-9 at Leon Gallery at 1112 E 17th Avenue in Denver. The gallery’s hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Friday, 12-6 p.m. on Saturday and 12-5 p.m. on Sunday.

Event Contact

Colorado Public Radio

303-871-9191

info@cpr.org

Image credits: Amanda Tipton Photography

Artist Bio:

Ana Anu (she/they) is a poet and multi-media artist.  Their work, centering ecofeminist poetics, has been materialized in two books of poetry, Noon (2017, thisisfeministart) and Mona Mona Mona (2019, thisisfeministart) and through large public discourse performances and installations internationally.  Anu is an MFA graduate of Naropa University and an MA Candidate at NYU Tisch. Their third book, a x-genre project titled Crone-Ology is forthcoming this year. Its sentiments are reflected in this show.  Through much of the pandemic, Anu supported the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers by distributing BIPOC scholarships for virtual events. Anu also works more broadly towards intergenerational wisdom with several intersectional feminist organizations.

Artist Statement:

What happens when living ancient women are placed into a public reflection? Do we see something we could not readily see? What is revealed? Do we take on her qualities? Do we understand ourselves as her? Do we understand ourselves above the world of duality? What is revealed? This exhibition invites the viewer into a physical and psychical communication with elder feminine wisdom.

We need our grandmothers. We need to adopt grandmothers and love them as if they were our own. We need to work against our own erasure in becoming elders, and against the loss of libraries between elder bones. Working with grandmothers has taught me that most of our social and environmental catastrophes might be mitigated through a spiritual resolve; by following the advice of a few auspiciously suited, silver-haired women. 

The International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers is an earth realm and ancestral council. Their confluence is the result of much physical and psychical journeying, and of a certain predestined orchestration.To date, just six of the original thirteen grandmothers sit on the council earthside. They are: Grandmother Flordemayo, Unci Rita LongVisitor Holy Dance, Grandmother Clara Shinobu Iura, Grandmother Mona Polaca, Grandmother Maria Alice Campos, and Grandmother Margaret Behan. The grandmothers who sit on the council spiritside are: Grandmother Agnes Baker Pilgrim, Grandmother Bernadette Rebinot, Grandmother Rita Pitka Blumenstein, Unci Beatrice Long Visitor Holy Dance, Abuela Julieta Casimiro, Aama Bombo, and Tsering Dolma Gyaltong. The council is both living and also medium. This exhibition is dedicated to the council, and to the extended community of grandmothers on either side of the “telephone”. 

Undeterred by the social erasure of elders, a problem specific to western over culture, grandmothers globally are nurturing their unique veracity. Grandmothers are remembering their work as vital and urgent contributors to humanity. Grandmothers with their noses on the pulse of matters are both sensitive to our current conjuncture and prepared with a paranormal awareness. As our collective grows out of nuclear family models and into possibilities of chosen family webs, we might consider necessary, adopting elders and bringing wisdom holders back into centerfold.

Read an exhibition write up by Zavi Kang Engles here

Read an exhibition write up by Rocko Foltz here

June 25th through August 6th, 2022

Leon is proud to present Denver artist s.legg, in his first exhibition with the gallery, including sculptures, photographs and videos.

Photo credit: Amanda Tipton Photography

Artist Statement:

I don’t give a rat’s ass about artists, i love Art. If artwork is done well, it far exceeds any intent by the artist. After finishing a piece, the artist needs to step back and let the work take on a life of its own. The artist is just a part of the process and is therefore no more important than the paint, clay, film or instrument that they work with. We are all products of the time we live in. All our thoughts, actions and creations come from our social, political and historical context. In a sense, we all made this artwork. Just like when someone gets gunned down or gives birth, we are all in part, murderers and creators by association. We are all connected, like it or not, for better or worse.
s.legg

Artist Bio:

Always restless, i had lived in Boston, New York, San Diego, Chicago, Miami, and for a brief while the Sahara Desert, before coming to Colorado. In the cities i learned that everyone has their own point of view on absolutely everything. In the desert i learned that silence is the most welcome opinion. After my desert sojourn i realized the two things i dislike most are noise and subjectivity. I also came to the realization that the photographic art i’d been making was no longer enough. I’d gone from glorifying highway overpasses, tree trunks (i called them torsos), covered cars, empty pools and other ostensibly banal things to assembling photo grids, making videos and creating outdoor installations. Finally, i left photography altogether and began putting together sculptures in the round. My love of the ubiquitous every day things that go virtually unnoticed in our lives carried over from my photography into my sculptural work.
I began assembling the objects that we see so often that we don’t see them anymore, together into singular pieces. I discovered that by combining the unseen and cast off it gave them power and strength. Ten years ago, in order to instill as much objectivity as possible in my life and work, and to achieve the quiet i yearned for, i began a year of silence. I wanted to just listen for a while so i could take in all points of view from those around me without tainting them with my own spoken subjectivity. My year of silence turned into over fourteen months as i did not want to go back to being “noisy” again. One of the many things i learned during that time is that we are all basically the same, and that we limit ourselves by striving to be separate. By categorizing ourselves into genders, races, political parties and religions, we limit ourselves with subjective ideologies. Therefore i vowed to strive to see everything from all points of view, and then later, from no point of view at all. I now try to make objective sculptures that are multifaceted. Assemblages of everything, that apply to everyone, and no one in particular. Work that doesn’t scream in your face, but whispers urgently in your ear and tells you things that deep down we all already know. 

Ray Rinaldi’s review in The Denver Post can be viewed here

You can read Sabin Aell’s write up here

Exhibition on view April 20th through June 11th

Artist Statement:

The artist makes art and the art is about the artist.
I was born in 1982.
If you were born in or around it, you may know the feeling of being caught between
two disparate generations, analog and digital. My generation came of age during
a monumental shift in the nature of communication, and our shared perspective is
uniquely old and new. We’re a bit fucked up.
This body of work is a byproduct of that experience, both in the content and its
physicality. As a part of this transitional generation, I’m drawn to the nostalgic markers
that litter that path – to the things that endured as well as the defunct relics of the
analog. Airbrush. Old neon signage. Wood burners. Table games. Velvet paintings.
The list goes on.
The goal was to make work that is raw and carefree. Light. I hope its energy and
irreverence make you smile.

Artist Bio:

Denver based artist Matt Tripodi, aka Deputy Glitters, was born in 1982 in Cleveland, OH. As an army brat, he has lived throughout the United States, spending his adolescence in Tennessee and Kentucky and early adult years in NYC.

Tripodi’s work has been shown in New York, Hong Kong, and Denver and is in collections worldwide including the UK, Cyprus, Venezuela, China, and Australia. 

Photo Credit: Amanda Tipton Photography

You can read an exhibition review of the exhibition by Raymundo Munoz on 1 of 1 Magazine’s website here.

Exhibition images by Amanda Tipton Photography

Perennial is an exhibition of work created over the last two years, exploring how we interact and build connections in a time where out lives have become increasingly isolated and remote. The exhibition includes photography, interactive installation, and performance that reflects on our desire to build relationships at a distance, with ourselves, our friends, and our environment.

The exhibition will be on view from Thursday, April 21st, through Sunday, April 24th. 

Austin Slominski is an audiovisual artist living in Denver, CO, originally from Missoula, MT. His work uses programming to create sounds and visuals that explore how we interact and navigate with others within networks, usually through the use of software, performance, and installation. Austin received his BFA in Sonic Arts from the University of Montana and he is currently and MFA candidate at University of Denver’s Emergent Digital Practices program.

Artist Statement:

I’ve been told plenty of times that in order to understand the present, I’ve got to know the history. I find that funny as a Black person born and raised in America. It’s not that I disagree, it’s just that I know that my history on this land—Black history—has been distorted and fucked-up to perpetuate the racist repercussions of European colonialism and white privilege in this godforsaken country.

Anti-Blackness at the hands of racist America seems inescapable no matter what context I place it into; literature, science, government, health, art… look into any “field” and see for yourself. My people have had to cry, scream, and fight for respect throughout all these fields of study for centuries, and we still haven’t gained the respect we deserve. Even in the visual arts, the field I’ve chosen to dedicate my life to, the history of racism against Black people runs rampant. To move on from this shit, we must acknowledge the many ways that this country has implemented a racial hierarchy since these lands were first colonized and stripped from indigenous peoples, and Black people were stolen from their native land and brought here.

BLACK SNAFU (Situation Niggas: All Fucked Up), gets its name from “Private Snafu”, a series of cartoon shorts made in the 1940s by Warner Bros. in the hopes of educating American WWII soldiers about military and warfare tactics. In BLACK SNAFU, I appropriate various depictions of Black people that I find throughout the history of American cartooning and beyond—from the 20th century racist characters in Don Raye’s “Scrub Me Mama with a Boogie Beat” to more contemporary, uplifting, and pro-Black characters like Huey and Riley Freeman from Aaron McGruder’s “The Boondocks”—and juxtapose them with photographs that line up more authentically with a (my) Black experience. These photographs are made by my hand and come from my camera, allowing me to fight back against the historical racist tropes I reference with my own authentic Blackness. By combining these ambivalent visual languages, I intend to expose to viewers America’s deplorable connection to anti-Black tropes through pop-culture while simultaneously celebrating the reality of what it means to be Black.

Artist Bio:

Raised in the Southern states of Tennessee and Texas, André Ramos-Woodard (they/ them/ he/ him) is a contemporary artist who uses their work to emphasize the experiences of the underrepresented: celebrating the experience of marginalized peoples while accenting the repercussions of contemporary and historical discrimination. Working in a variety of media—including photography, text, and illustration—Ramos-Woodard creates collages that convey ideas of communal and personal identity centralized within internal conflicts. They are influenced by their direct experience with life as being queer and African American, both of which are obvious targets for discrimination. Focusing on Black liberation, queer justice, and the reality of mental health, Ramos-Woodard works to amplify repressed voices and bring power to the people. Ramos-Woodard received their BFA from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas, and their MFA at The University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

You can read a review of the exhibition by Emily Owens here

Exhibition photos courtesy of Amanda Tipton Photography

Photo Credit: Amanda Tipton Photography

Viktor El-Saieh is available for private tours of the exhibition on Wednesdays and Sundays between Noon and 4pm. If you would like a private tour with Viktor, please reserve your appointment during his available hours, and send us an email at ifoundleon@gmail.com requesting that Viktor be present. Please request Viktor’s presence at least 24 hours in advance of your appointment.

Rénee Marino’s exhibition review, which appears on Daria Art Magazine’s website, can be viewed here.

Tai Bickham at MCA Denver interviewed Viktor for their blog. You can read the interview here.

You can read an exhibition review by Yvens Alex Saintil here.

You can also read an exhibition review by Aldof Alzuphar here.

Pitit Tig / Children of Tigers is an introduction to contemporary Haitian art for the Denver, Colorado community. This group exhibition draws on the richness of Haitian history, spirituality and language to form a sample for those who are less familiar, and a reminder for those who are already acquainted.

Featuring the work of Lissa Jeannot, Herold Pierre-Louis, Marithou, Hugue Joseph, Jacky Charles, Wildaine Charles, Ferret Charles, Mme Moreau, Viktor El-Saieh and Pierre Louis — Pitit Tig / Children of Tigers is a multi-generational project which includes mentors, siblings, masters, disciples, offspring and grandchildren (among others) of individuals who’ve made and continue to make a major impact in the world of Haitian art. The children of tigers are facilitators, teachers, leaders, helpers, and, most importantly; revolutionaries.

“By creating a society in which all people, of all colors, were granted freedom and citizenship, the Haitian Revolution forever transformed the world. It was a central part of the destruction of slavery in the Americas, and therefore a crucial moment in the history of democracy, one that laid the foundation for the continuing struggles for human rights everywhere. In this sense we are all descendants of the Haitian Revolution, and responsible to these ancestors.”

A mixture of wooden and ceramic sculpture, textile works, paintings and drawing will give those interested a window into the universe of contemporary Haitian art; a universe which holds within it many worlds — each with its own unique symbols, characters and messages — woven together carefully by artists whose personal vision is always buoyed by a shared history of overcoming impossible odds.

This exhibition is ultimately an invitation to share in the sublime glory and captivating beauty of art produced by individuals with deep connections to a specific place; the land of many mountains — where the Children of Tigers battle and find solace.

Viktor El-Saieh was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and raised in Miami, Florida. He holds a BA in International Affairs from Florida International University (FIU), and an MA in Teaching Secondary Social Studies from the University of Colorado (CU). El-Saieh’s work has been exhibited at Locust Projects, Miami; David Castillo Gallery, Miami; Central Fine, Miami Beach; and El-Saieh Gallery, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, among other venues. El-Saieh’s work is part of the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami and the Pérez Art Museum Miami. He lives and works in Denver, Colorado, and is represented by Central Fine in Miami Beach, Florida.