Bonny Leibowitz, Texas Sculpture Group
From Richardson, Texas
Artist Statement:
My works are fragments of a blown apart reality, reconstructed in a landscape where forms collide and conjoin in myriad nuance and potential. “We are constantly creating the environment that creates us” – David Lynch
As I’m building objects, I often envision bits of life, a torso, a tree, a wing, a wave or a cloud, for instance, drawing on memories and impressions. I begin the process of extracting and abstracting their essence into new living forms by manipulating materials and processes that reflect these connections.
Many of the works are repeatedly cracked open and reconfigured, particularly my plaster and foam work, which I build and saw, over and over, putting pieces back together and adding new materials to make new forms. For me, this process physically reflects the nature and continuum of life in every moment. “To be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest. To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again.” Pema Chodron
Some works are what I consider disembodied pieces of nature such as “Cloud as an Object” and “Cascade as an Object”, for instance. I’m interested in lines of connection and how words and definitions are never fully sufficient and that by virtue of the fact we give a thing a name, we immediately speak to what it is not – we separate, segregate and form limiting beliefs. To talk about such things, I make objects that point to separation, abandonment, presence and illusion - questioning expectations and the concept of stability.
I utilize a variety of materials, the appearances of which confuse the manufactured with natural. The work can feel earthy, plastic, body like, joyous, sickly, broken, solid, fragile, timeless.
“Everything worth knowing is cloaked in paradox because everything substantial defies being revealed in its totality” – Mark Nepo
Artist Biography:
Leibowitz produces objects, installations and paintings in a reconstructed landscape where forms collide and conjoin in myriad nuance and potential. She utilizes a variety of materials including Tyvek, Plaster, Vinyl, plastics, foam, wax, pigments, ink, found object, photography, paper and more.
Her solo exhibitions include The Neon Heater in Findlay, OH., No.4 Studio in Brooklyn, NY, Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas, TX, Art Cube Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA, The Museum of Art, Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX, Cohn Drennan Contemporary in Dallas, TX. and upcoming: M. David & Co., Brooklyn, NY.
Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including those in Italy, Israel, Brooklyn, New York, Baltimore, Maryland, Dallas, Texas and Art Basel Satellite Art Fair, Miami, Florida.
In 2020 Leibowitz created The Visitation Project incorporating her work, digitally, into images of environments sent by artists from all over the world.
In 2019 Leibowitz’s work was featured in New American Paintings.
Leibowitz has participated in residencies with Judy Pfaff and Michael David culminating in group exhibitions in Brooklyn, NY at M. David & Co.
Reviews and interviews of her work have been featured in Art Uncovered, ATOA, Art Spiel, The Houston Review, Vassari21, Maake Magazine, Pleat, Studio Critical, Curating Contemporary, Mixed Media Tapes, Luxe Magazine, Modern Dallas, Dallas Morning News, Art Funk and Papercity.
Originally from Philadelphia, Leibowitz lives in Dallas, TX. where she maintains her studio practice.