+About the Artist
-
James Leonard is a Brooklyn-based artist. His work ranges from figure drawings and handheld objects to videos, installations, and socially engaged performance pieces.
Leonard’s art often examines complex intersections: where agency butts up against impotence, where alarm gives birth to growth, and where optimism coexists with grieving. He hopes that his works can serve as a form of wayfinding, helping others find beauty and joy while navigating the challenges of our twenty-first century existence.
Exhibitions and appearances include Queens Museum, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Wasserman Projects in Detroit, the Delaware Art Museum, and MASS MoCA. His work has been supported by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, the Jersey City Parks Coalition, and the Joseph Robert Foundation. Leonard received his bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and has an MFA from the University of Michigan. He has presented as visiting artist at institutions including Cornell, Harvard, and American University.
Hypercubes as Mandala
2010 - 2014
Ballpoint pen on index cards
3" x 5"
Accumulated daily practice. From 2010 into 2014, I would freehand draw a higher dimensional cube at the start of each day spent in the studio. When generated by computer, these forms—also known as hypercubes—often look different from my results. The practice of drawing 5-dimensional or higher cubes requires such concentration, that it reliably induces an altered state in me. 6 dimensions is as far as I was ever able to take this process.
