Virginia Leonard
Green Toes, 2022
Clay, pure gold and resin
700mm x 400mm x 500mm
Price on request
Urns for Unwanted Limbs (blue), 2022
Clay and pure gold
300mm x 250mm
Price on request
Urns for Unwanted Limbs (green), 2022
Clay and pure gold
250mm x 200mm (varying)
Proudly presented in association with Gow Langsford Gallery.
As Objectspace Director Kim Paton notes, “the act of describing artist Virginia Leonard’s ceramic sculptures is a scramble for adjectives. A word grab for soundbites that might go some of the distance to illustrate the sensation of the work’s form and surface…It’s no criticism to say Leonard’s work is full on. Full colour, full texture, full noise.”
Virginia Leonard is well-established (both in New Zealand and internationally) for her striking, experimental approach to clay sculpture. Originally having trained as a painter, Leonard was drawn to ceramics after being involved in a serious motorcycle accident which resulted in a long hospitalisation period and an aftermath of living with severe chronic pain.
Of the explicit link between her life experience and her art-making, Leonard describes: “My works are self-portraits that address my bodily scarring and chronic pain. Chronic pain has no biological value…it lacks both language and voice. The language of my clay making is my attempt to rid my body of trauma and reduce my level of chronic pain.” The intimately physical process of working with clay, resin and glaze has been Leonard’s way of exploring that pain and trauma, with her elaborate vessel forms traversing the line between order and chaos. Through tearing, smearing, lumping and clumping the clay, the forms come together to be representative of bodies, and presented on plinths and platforms, the viewer meets them figuratively as sculptural torsos to be examined - with curious lumps, growths, orifices, fingers, claws, dimples, warts and all.
In Urns for Unwanted Limbs, other themes and imagery emerge to accompany Leonard’s autobiographical thread. There has always been a decadent nature to her sculptures, recalling the Baroque era of decorative grandeur, and specifically, the ornamental style of Rococo. But in Leonard’s most recent body of work, the sculptures take on a number of meanings which find fanciful, joyful expression. The viewer is called to imagine the exquisite underworld world of caves, sea beds and corals and the wondrous creatures which may live there, or the dense, entangled tropical jungle habitat, teeming with weird and wonderful plant-life, or the discovery of forgotten treasure chests, overflowing with glowing gold nuggets and glittering, lustrous jewels.
Leonard herself notes that alongside a deeply cathartic psychological release, the powerful element of humour is in play as she revels in an exploration of the grotesque, the absurd and the completely ridiculous. Perhaps what is most curious about Leonard’s sculptures is not the conclusive answers they give, but the ideas they stir up, the connotations they offer, and the reasons they give us to pause and imagine.
More from this artist
Artist Bio
Born Auckland, New Zealand
Education
2001 Master of Fine Arts (First Class Honours), Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design, Auckland
1990 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Whitecliffe College of Arts & Design, Auckland
Upcoming
Group Show, Yusto/Giner, Madrid, Spain, June 2022; Australia Ceramic Triennale, Alice Springs, Australia, July 2022; Group Show, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US, September 2022; Splash, Taste Contemporary, Basel, Switzerland, September 2022; Design Miami/Paris, Side Gallery, Paris, France, October 2022; Solo Exhibition, Hastings City Gallery, Hastings, New Zealand, November 2022
Selected Exhibitions
2022 - No One Will See Me Walk to Deny Me Grace, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (solo); Exposed Material, Side Gallery, Barcelona, Spain (group); artgenève, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland (group); Sculpture on the Gulf, Waiheke Island, New Zealand; Group Exhibition, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand (group)
2021 - Sydney Contemporary, Gow Langsford Gallery & PAULNACHE, Sydney, Australia (group); Golden Legs and Other Bits, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US, (solo); Distorted Duets, Taste Contemporary, La Fonderie Kugler, Geneva, Switzerland (group); miart, Taste Contemporary, Milan, Italy (group); Officine Saffi Award 4, Milan, Italy (Winner - Main Prize); Odd & Even, Maison Louis Carré, Bazoches-sur-Guyonne, France (group); Urns For Unwanted Limbs, PAULNACHE, Gisborne, NZ (solo); Full House, Artist-run exhibition, Auckland, NZ (group); Threshold, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, NZ (group); Summer Exhibition, PAULNACHE, Gisborne, NZ (group)
2020 - Design Miami / Basel, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US (group); Sydney Contemporary, Gow Langsford Gallery & PAULNACHE, Sydney, Australia (group); miart, Taste Contemporary, Milan, Italy, September 2020 (group); Breath Holder, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, NZ (solo); Auckland Art Fair, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland, NZ (group); The Backbone of Things, Te Auaha, Wellington, NZ (group); Ladies Bits, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US, (group); The Cook and Her Driver, Gertrude Glasshouse, Melbourne, Australia (Residency Exhibition)
2019 - Hot Mess, Bowerbank Ninow, Auckland, NZ, (group); Beau-laid, Masons Yard, St. James, London, UK (group); The Dowse Art Museum, Dirty Ceramics, Wellington, NZ (group); International Biennial of Contemporary Ceramics 2019, Geneva, Switzerland (group); Gloria, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney, Australia (solo); Sydney Contemporary, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney, Australia (group); Autumn Exhibition, Martin Browne Contemporary, Sydney, Australia (group); miart, Taste Contemporary, Milan, Italy (solo); Trans-Pacific Dialogue, NCECA, Minneapolis, Minnesota, US (group); National Treasures, Contemporary Ceramics from Australia and New Zealand, The Vivian, Matakana, New Zealand (group); Open to Art, Officine Saffi, Milan, Italy (group); artgenève, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland (group)
2018 - I Come Out Of Surgery Looking Golden; Virginia Leonard with Gretchen Albrecht, Two Rooms, Auckland, New Zealand (solo); It Only Hurts When I Bend, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami, US (solo); All I Want is a Facelift, Objectspace, Auckland, New Zealand (solo); Melbourne Art Fair, PAULNACHE, Melbourne, Australia (solo); Auckland Art Fair, PAULNACHE, Auckland, New Zealand (solo); miart, Erastudio Apartment Gallery, Milan, Italy (group); Collective Design Fair, Mindy Solomon Gallery, New York, US (group); artgenève, Taste Contemporary, Geneva, Switzerland (solo); Exodus, The Vivian, Matakana, New Zealand (group)
2017 - Pulse Art Fair, Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami Beach, US (group); Installation Contemporary, Sydney Contemporary, Carriageworks, Sydney, Australia (solo); Galerie Wolfsen, Denmark (solo); Farvestralende Keramik, Guldagergaard, Denmark (solo); Village huha, PAULNACHE, Gisborne, New Zealand (group)
2016 - HANDBUILT made in clay, Two Rooms, Auckland, New Zealand (group); Christmas Time at Middlemore, Corbans Estate Arts Centre, Auckland, New Zealand (solo); Spring 1883, PAULNACHE, The Hotel Windsor, Melbourne, Australia (group); MUD, Galerie Wolfsen, Denmark (group); Graffiti Lounge, PAULNACHE, Gisborne, New Zealand (group)
2015 - Potters & Painters, The Vivian, Matakana, New Zealand (group)
Awards
2021 - Winner - Main Prize, Officine Saffi Award 4, Milan, Italy
2020 - First Runner-Up Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand
2019 - Winner Artist-in-Residence Prize in Finland, Open to Art Ceramic Award, Officine Saffi, Milan, Italy
2018 - Finalist Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand
2017 - Finalist Portage Ceramic Awards, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland; Finalist Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand, Travelling Show
2016 - Finalist Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand, Travelling Show; Finalist Molly Morpeth Canaday 3D Award, Te Kōputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre, Whakatane, New Zealand; Finalist Waiheke Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Waiheke, New Zealand
2015 - Merit Award Portage Ceramic Awards, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand; Finalist Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand, Travelling Show; Finalist National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand; Finalist Waiheke Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Waiheke, New Zealand
2014 - Finalist Wallace Art Awards, Auckland, New Zealand, Travelling Show; Finalist Molly Morpeth Canaday Sculpture Award, Te kōputu a te whanga a Toi - Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre, Whakatane, New Zealand; Finalist National Contemporary Art Award, Waikato Museum, Hamilton, New Zealand; Finalist Waiheke Small Sculpture Prize, Waiheke Art Gallery, Waiheke, New Zealand
Selected Public and Private Collections
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia; Musée Ariana, Geneva, Switzerland; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Australia; Rigo-Saitta Collection, Geneva, Switzerland; James Wallace Arts Trust, Auckland, New Zealand; Bill Gautreaux Collection, Kansas, USA; Ann Tennenenbaum Collection, New York, USA; Girls Club Collection, Miami, USA
Residencies
Glass House/Stone House, Chenaud, France; Guldagergaard - International Ceramic Research Centre, Denmark
Publications
100 Sculptures of Tomorrow, Thames & Hudson; Ceramics Art + Perception #113; Ceramics New Zealand, Volume 1 issue 2, Essay by Kim Paton; The Journal of Australian Ceramics, Vol 57 No1, Essay by Anna Briers
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Urns For Unwanted LimbsUrns For Unwanted LimbsVirginia Leonard
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Virginia Leonard - Urn for Unwanted Limbs and Other Things (blue, aqua, pink, yellow), 2024Virginia Leonard - Urn for Unwanted Limbs and Other Things (blue, aqua, pink, yellow), 2024Virginia Leonard
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Virginia Leonard - Urn for Unwanted Limbs and Other Things (pink), 2022Virginia Leonard - Urn for Unwanted Limbs and Other Things (pink), 2022Virginia Leonard
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