Leonardo Drew
- Finding Piet Mondrian
- Influence of Piet Mondrian on Drew’s work
- Drew visits Mondrian’s gravesite
- Was named as notable by his grave after Drew found it
- Leonardo Drew in “Investigation”
- Doesn’t always know what his works are going to be about “but they always find there way”
- From Bridgeport, CT
- First taste of fine art was in High School after exposure to Jackson Polocks black and white drawings
- Went to Cooper Union, says he was “the greediest person there” as he absorbed everything and then asked for an extra year to stay and study
- His piece, number 8, is comprised of all of his so-called failures, mashed together into one work
- Speaks on his experience as a person of color:
- Made a cotton wall piece which he wheeled down the street on a dolly to which many people took photos suggesting it was a political piece despite that not being its intentions
- Used the heat in San Antonio to cook some of his materials
- Traveling & Making
- Took time to travel and digest art, was amazed that he didn’t miss the studio because life and art were still going on within him
David Brooks
- David Brooks Takes the Roof Off
- Always goes down to South Florida every year
- Fascination with the Everglades and the contrast between the preserved nature and unchecked urban development just a few miles away
- Constructing a piece comprised of rooftops in time square to speak to this unchecked development in the US
- Was challenged on whether this was art or not
- David Brooks Hits the Pavement
- Also went to Cooper Union, would skateboard around town
- Started to break some preconceived notions of what art was while he was in NYC
- Talks through his piece of a deconstructed tractor combine
- David Brooks In His Element
I watched several videos containing interviews with Leonardo Drew and David Brooks, yet I do not have the word count to speak on Brooks. Drew spoke about the influence of Piet Mondrian on his work. During his rise to fame, Drew discovered the location of Mondrian’s gravesite and made light of it to the MET with the hopes of gaining the distinction for he felt Mondrian deserved. Drew grew up in Bridgeport, CT, a not particularly affluent area, where he began withdrawing as his primary medium, working for cartoonists and comic artists as early as high school. His first taste of fine art came in the form of Jackson Pollocks black and white drawings around this same time. While attending Cooper Union in NYC, Drew said he “was the greediest one there” as he absorbed anything and everything during his time there, going as far as to ask for a 5th year of school to further his quest for skills. Drew speaks on his experience as a person of color and how it influenced one of his pieces where he wheeled a cotton ball down the street on a dolly, to which many passersby were assuming a political nature in his work. Drew continues to work in San Antonio, a place, he says, has as much to do with the method of his creative process as the inspiration, as many of his materials can only be prepared by cooking in the hot sun of Texas. I was surprised most by the free-flowing nature of much of Drew’s work as he says often that he has “no idea what many of his pieces are about but they always find their way there”. This is often how I approach my work. I do find it surprising that Drew tends to stay away from political commentary within his work, choosing rather to express himself instead of society.