Brian Leo

Brian Leo's new exhibition, Brian Leo is Every Soldier in the World, on view at the Leo Kesting Gallery, is what happens when one of New York's most recognizable young artists mixes popular imagery, global terror and irony, with a twist of Day-Glo surrealism. The title of the show references Facebook and its personal updates which contrast the mundane to the illuminative. 

For Brian Leo, these new works present "a cavalcade of images in mass that show deep events of cultural significance flanked by bizarre moments of personal experience." In one painting entitled, Commemorative Plates (4'x5', mixed media, 2009), a haunting image of carnage is depicted in the form of a flayed Wall Street Bull. In Fresh Flesh (3'x4', mixed media, 2009), viewers are forced to contemplate how the Internet porn industry is no longer a sideshow to the mainstream and that it is bigger than major league sports and perhaps Hollywood in The U.S.A..

"What New Yorker hasn't stopped, frozen in fear at the sight of a low-flying aircraft? " asks gallerist John Leo. "All that harsh medicine needs a sweet chaser of humor. Amen for cats masturbating with dust busters." The painting, Cat with Dustbuster, invites viewers to  consider utilitarianism, domestic settings, and most importantly sex disorder, which has been recently brought to light through mass media coverage of actor David Duchovny.

Leo Kesting Gallery invites you to attend the opening night reception for Brian Leo is Every Soldier in the World on Saturday, March 7 from 7:00 to 10:00 pm. The exhibition runs until March 29.

Brian Leo has exhibited in Tokyo, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and galleries throughout New York City. He was also noted in the July 29, 2007 issue of The New York Times and the April 2006 Brooklyn Rail Armory Review. He holds a B.F.A. from Rutgers/ Mason Gross School of Arts.

Leo Kesting Gallery launched in 2003 and developed an aggressive campaign to introduce new figurative artists to collectors and art supporters. Leo Kesting offers the art viewing public an opportunity to see forthcoming talents in an intimate setting where undiscovered, cutting-edge artists are presented to the contemporary art scene.

Leo Kesting Gallery is located at 812 Washington Street at the corner of Gansevoort in Manhattan's Meat Packing District. A, C, E or L train to 8th Ave and 14th Street or 1, 2, 3 train to 14th Street. Gallery hours are Tuesday to Sunday from 11am until 7pm.

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