Leonardo Drew, 112L 2011. Tate. © Leonardo Drew.

Louise Nevelson and Leonardo Drew

Louise Nevelson, Black Wall  1959

In the late 1950s, Nevelson began to make reliefs by stacking wooden boxes and crates, each of which would contain an arrangement of found objects that she collected as she walked around the streets of New York City. Black Wall is an early example of this approach, filled with pieces of scrap timber, such as joinery offcuts and fragments of furniture. The disparate elements are unified by being painted black, a colour which Nevelson suggested will make any material look more distinguished.

Gallery label, January 2016

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Louise Nevelson, Untitled No. 15  1981

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Louise Nevelson, Untitled No. 40  1983

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Leonardo Drew, 112L  2011

In 11 2L, many hundreds of small pieces of wood are densely packed to form a rough square. Their irregularity maintains a sense of the organic within this carefully structured grid. In N u m b er 185, long slats and logs protrude from a central grid, suggesting the force of nature disrupting the constructed world. Drew weathered and painted the wood used in these works to make them appear salvaged and charred. He describes ‘becoming the weather’ in his process of transforming the wood, emphasising our interconnectedness with forces larger than ourselves. Drew numbers his works rather than giving them descriptive titles. This allows viewers to create their own associations with their forms.

Gallery label, November 2022

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Leonardo Drew, Number 185  2016

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Art in this room

T00514: Black Wall
Louise Nevelson Black Wall 1959

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Louise Nevelson Untitled No. 15 1981

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Louise Nevelson Untitled No. 40 1983
T13822: 112L
Leonardo Drew 112L 2011
L04404: Number 185
Leonardo Drew Number 185 2016