The Institute of Arts and Science & the San Jose Museum of Art present “Seeing Through Stone”
University of California, Santa Cruz NEWSCENTERApril 10, 2024 San José, California (March 20, 2024) — The Institute of the Arts and Sciences...
Strange Weather: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation features contemporary art works which illuminate and reframe the boundaries of bodies and the environment. The artworks included in the exhibition span five decades, from 1970-2020, and are drawn together for how they creatively call attention to the impact and history of forced migrations, industrialization, global capitalism, and trauma on humans and the contemporary landscape. The exhibition is organized by the Institute of the Arts and Sciences and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History.
Leonardo Drew is known for creating reflective abstract sculptural works that play upon the dystopic tension between order and chaos. Recalling Post Minimalist sculpture that alludes to America’s industrial past , as well as the plight of African Americans throughout U.S. history. One could find many meanings in his work, but ultimately the cyclical nature of life and decay can be seen in his grids of transformed raw material to resemble and articulate entropy and a visual erosion of time. Drew’s natural talent and passion for art was recognized at an early age, first exhibiting his work at the age of 13. He went on to attend the Parsons School of Design and received his BFA from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and art in 1985. His works have been shown nationally and internationally and are included in numerous public and private collections. Public institutions include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Guggenheim, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; and Tate, London, among others as well as collaborating with Merce Cunningham on the production of “ Ground Level Overlay.” New York Times art critic Roberta Smith describes his large reliefs as “pocked, splintered, seemingly burned here, bristling there, unexpectedly delicate elsewhere. An endless catastrophe seen from above. The energies intimated in these works are beyond human control, bigger than all of us”. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
Jordan D. Schnitzer bought his first work of art from his mother’s Portland, Oregon contemporary art gallery at age 14, marking an early beginning to his lifelong vocation as a collector. Today, his collection exceeds 19,000 works and includes many of today’s most important contemporary artists. It has grown to be the country’s largest private print collection. He and His Family Foundation generously lend work from the collections to qualified institutions and has organized over 110 exhibitions and has art exhibited at over 160 museums. Schnitzer is also President of Harsch Investment Properties, a privately owned real estate investment company based in Portland, Oregon, which owns and operates over 28 million square feet of office, multi-tenant industrial, multi-family and retail properties in six western states.
