JANE BROWN | DATE 6/18/2012

Leonardo Bravo: Golden Hours at ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase

ARTBOOK @ Paper Chase
invites you to the opening reception for
Leonardo Bravo: Golden Hours,
Sunday, June 24 from 6-8pm.
Exhibition will be on view through July 21st.

ABOVE: Leonardo Bravo’s 2011 watercolor and gouache on paper, “Drift Spirit.”

Leonardo Bravo's works on paper draw upon the language of modernist geometric abstraction by visualizing complex structures and systems in saturated colors that suggest a constant state of becoming and unfolding. These works take their cues from a variety of sources including Bauhaus master weavers Gunta Stolzl and Ani Albers, the wall drawings of Sol Lewitt , the works of Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica, and traditional South American woven tapestries. Inherent in these structures is the visual tension suggested by the relationship of each color form to the other, and the way in which negative space becomes a counterpoint to each fixed form. The complexity of these visual structures suggests an architecture of time and space in which forms continue to build and collapse upon each other, emanating new relationships, and suggesting pathways that open up to limitless possibilities, questions, and complexities. They also vividly refer to the soundscapes and musical constructions of such timeless pieces as the fugues of JS Bach, the innovative musical masterpieces of dub architects Lee Scratch Perry and King Tubby, and the minimal works of La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Morton Feldman.

Leonardo Bravo is an artist, educator, and curator. As an artist and curator, Bravo has exhibited at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, the Whittier College Arts Gallery, Deep River Gallery, Barbara Davis Gallery (Houston, TX), POST LA, Michael's Restaurant (Santa Monica, CA), and most recently Fifth Floor Gallery in Chinatown LA. Bravo also organizes and produces Big City Forum, an interdisciplinary project designed to bring together creative practitioners over issues related to the social dimensions of art and public space. Currently Big City Forum functions as a monthly conversation series in which leading architects, designers, artists, curators, and writers share projects with a collective network of peers taking place at various sites across L.A., including the Santa Monica Museum of Art, The Neutra House, The Goethe Institut, the Honor Fraser Gallery, LAX ART, and Art Center College of Design.

Bravo received his MFA from the University of Southern California and his BFA from Otis College of Art & Design.