Zoe Leonard
09 Dec 2008 - 16 Jan 2009
ZOE LEONARD
Early photographs
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present early photographs, an exhibition by U.S artist Zoe Leonard (1961, Liberty, New York) which takes place at the same time as her retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in order to offer a wider vision of her work.
Zoe Leonard believes in the life of images. Anna Blume, historian and Leonard’s friend, notices the artist seems to want to encourage some sort of conversation with the subjects which she portraits, as if Leonard wanted her photographs to constitute the channel through which such a communication was to be established.
This is why, though occasionally her chosen models could be found attractive for their uncanny or fetishist nature, there is no trace of sensationalism on any of her work, but rather the opposite; Leonard feels responsible for what she represents and wishes to honor its anonymous but nevertheless real story, whether it be a tree, a mannequin, an errant plastic bag, a disused commercial establishment, or preserved head of a certain bearded woman. The artist intercedes in the name of that or those who, lacking voice, we cannot hear.
These aerial pictures of Paris mark a crucial moment in Leonard’s career. Taken from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Paris, they speak of her interest in perspective and human scale. The scale of these pictures is almost aerial but still remains human; far, but not too far away. Leonard looks at the world from what seems a birds-view but remains always on her feet. These pictures of Paris represent one extreme of her search to see how far human perspective goes, whilst her Analogue series, currently on show at the MNCARS, represent the other. And between them lies the whole specter of subjectivity.
Because, as the artist herself says, “there is an aspect of photography that is like hunting and gathering”, her work has rightly been referred to as “intuitive”. And it is without doubt thanks to this developed intuition that Leonard manages to always pinpoint what is indeed important wherever it is to be found, lying on a blanket at ground level in a flea market, or nearly flying above Paris.
Zoe Leonard has been selected to exhibit in Documenta, Kassel, Germany, on two occasions (1992 and 2007) and the Fotomuseum Winterthur has recently held a major retrospective of her work since the 70’s. Amongst her current solo shows we can mention the Dia Art Foundation of New York and the retrospective at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which includes her latest work : Analogue. We can find her work in Collections like Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; or Guggengheim Museum of New York.
Early photographs
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present early photographs, an exhibition by U.S artist Zoe Leonard (1961, Liberty, New York) which takes place at the same time as her retrospective at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in order to offer a wider vision of her work.
Zoe Leonard believes in the life of images. Anna Blume, historian and Leonard’s friend, notices the artist seems to want to encourage some sort of conversation with the subjects which she portraits, as if Leonard wanted her photographs to constitute the channel through which such a communication was to be established.
This is why, though occasionally her chosen models could be found attractive for their uncanny or fetishist nature, there is no trace of sensationalism on any of her work, but rather the opposite; Leonard feels responsible for what she represents and wishes to honor its anonymous but nevertheless real story, whether it be a tree, a mannequin, an errant plastic bag, a disused commercial establishment, or preserved head of a certain bearded woman. The artist intercedes in the name of that or those who, lacking voice, we cannot hear.
These aerial pictures of Paris mark a crucial moment in Leonard’s career. Taken from the rooftop of one of the tallest buildings in Paris, they speak of her interest in perspective and human scale. The scale of these pictures is almost aerial but still remains human; far, but not too far away. Leonard looks at the world from what seems a birds-view but remains always on her feet. These pictures of Paris represent one extreme of her search to see how far human perspective goes, whilst her Analogue series, currently on show at the MNCARS, represent the other. And between them lies the whole specter of subjectivity.
Because, as the artist herself says, “there is an aspect of photography that is like hunting and gathering”, her work has rightly been referred to as “intuitive”. And it is without doubt thanks to this developed intuition that Leonard manages to always pinpoint what is indeed important wherever it is to be found, lying on a blanket at ground level in a flea market, or nearly flying above Paris.
Zoe Leonard has been selected to exhibit in Documenta, Kassel, Germany, on two occasions (1992 and 2007) and the Fotomuseum Winterthur has recently held a major retrospective of her work since the 70’s. Amongst her current solo shows we can mention the Dia Art Foundation of New York and the retrospective at Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, which includes her latest work : Analogue. We can find her work in Collections like Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; or Guggengheim Museum of New York.