This summer, American artist Leonardo DREW (ACC 1997) takes over the South London Gallery’s (SLG) main gallery with a new immersive sculptural installation.  

Known for his explosive sculptural works, this is Drew’s first solo exhibition in a London institution. He creates reflective abstract pieces that play on the tension between order and chaos. Transforming and eroding materials by hand in the studio, he explores the cyclical nature of life and decay.

Drew’s process is meditative and involves repetitive labour to create sculptures and large-scale installations. He says: “My work and my life are not separate. They are the same thing”.  “I don’t work with found objects because there is already a history embedded in that material,” he explains. “For me, I need to go through the rigours of touching it, living it, ….become the weather.” 

At the SLG, a new site-specific work will cover the walls and floor of the main gallery space. Fragments of wood are distressed, as though they have been through extreme weather events, natural disasters or, in Drew’s words, “acts of God”.