Intersections: Recent Work by Mark Leonard

In Intersections, Mark Leonard celebrates the possibilities of abstraction and offers up a rigorous exploration of light, color, and space. His practice is informed by deep knowledge and love of the past, inspired by a here-and-now engagement with the open invitation of the blank surface.

Trained as a restorer, Leonard perfected his craft in a distinguished career with the J. Paul Getty Museum. The best restorers - Leonard remains world-renowned - allow the hand of the artists to sing again. The infinite control, patience, and discipline practiced over decades now translate into an exciting new body of work.

Many living artists, established and emerging (from Sean Scully to Tauba Auerbach), have created iconic abstract imagery to address the fundamental questions that painting poses. Leonard adds his voice to the current generation of abstract painters with his inventive use of “weaving” forms. He entices us with his illusionistic skill while at the same time insisting on the flatness of his richly colored surfaces.

Leonard’s subtle use of the motif evokes the rhythms of traditional crafts (sewing, basketry, textile weaving). In their intimate scale, jewel-like, colors and exquisite handling, Leonard’s paintings and related drawings invite the viewer into a poetic reverie. The artist’s subject is timelessness itself, the Zen of the always-intertwined experiences of presence and absence, past and present. 

Charlotte N. Eyerman, Ph.D – Los Angeles 2011