Leslie Laskey: Embrology by Bruno David Gallery

LESLIE LA SK E Y EMBROLOGY (Small Things)

bruno david gallery

LESLIE LASKEY

EMBROLOGY (Small Things) October 17 - November 15, 2014 Bruno David Gallery 3721 Washington Boulevard Saint Louis, Missouri 63108 , U.S.A. info@brunodavidgallery.com www.brunodavidgallery.com Director: Bruno L. David

Bruno David Projects 1245 S. Vandeventer Avenue Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, U.S.A. info@brunodavidprojects.com www.brunodavidprojects.com Director: Keri Robertson

This catalogue was published in conjunction with the exhibition “ Leslie Laskey: Embrology (Small Things)” at Bruno David Gallery Editor: Bruno L. David Catalog Designer: Cleo Azariadis Design Assistant: Claudia R. David Printed in USA All works courtesy of Leslie Laskey and Bruno David Gallery Photographs by Bruno David Gallery Cover image: STUDY FOR EMBRO, 2013 (detail) Mixed media 8-1/2 x 7-1/4 inches. (20.95 x 18.41cm) Copyright © 2014 Bruno David Gallery and Bruno David Projects All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written permission of Bruno David Gallery and Bruno David Projects

CONTENTS

THE ART OF THE PROCESS by Michael Lowenstein EXPLORING by Leslie Laskey AFTERWORD by Bruno L. David CHECKLIST AND IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION BIOGRAPHY

THE ART OF THE PROCESS by Michael Lowenstein

I make a puzzle and then find out what it’s about. I invent this universe, I get a temporary visa and a work permit, and when it runs out, I go to another invention. --Leslie Laskey

Art thrives on mysterious encounters, curious blends of the known and the unknown, the deliberate and the unexpected. As an artist or as a viewer, you may not know what will come or how it will arrive. Take the surprising encounter between Leslie Laskey and the humble box you see on this catalog’s cover. It’s an empty Panettone Traditional Italian Oven-Baked Cake carton that Leslie held in his hands about 10 months before “Embrology” opened. Well-known for his hospitality, Leslie had served the cake to friends gathered at his home for a holiday breakfast and then folded up the box for recycling. Perhaps this was a karmic cake that was about to serve the one who had served others or some sort of higher recycling about to express itself. The point is, Leslie was receptive, his mind primed by years of making art (and writing poetry) to notice and respond, to move freely into rich uncertainty. As he recalled when we talked after “Embrology” opened, “I was folding up this trash—this Panettone box—and I thought, ‘Oh, aren’t these flaps interesting?’” He noticed, and the journey had begun: “I love getting prompted by an idea,” Leslie told me later, “and letting it take me where it may.”

Where his encounter with an inspiring bit of trash took him was into the ten months of creative energy and exploration that produced the work you see in this catalog. (“Embrology,” Leslie tells me, is “an old form” of the word “embryology,” at least according to a physician friend of his.) Leslie describes that flow of creativity as a process of playing with shapes and lines through drawing and collage, folding and unfolding, cutting and tearing things up and weaving them together, ultimately discovering possibilities he could not have predicted at the outset. The process taught him—and surprised him—as he went along, that bit of embryonic trash “actually becoming a kind of seed for different layers and different diagrams for new movement…and more ideas.” From that seed—that embryo—came “Embrology,” from the ordinary the extraordinary. “I’m amazed by all the things I saw,” Leslie recalls. As I walk into the gallery to see for myself and prepare for writing this piece, I hear again Leslie’s sound advice: “I don’t think of what you’re doing as a critique. I think of it as a participation. You’re saying, ‘This is the dust I collected as I was walking through the room.’” In the course of my various visits to the show, the dust I collect seems to fall from the parts as well as the whole, from both the many and the one. Among the individual works that I am drawn to are the six smaller pieces placed at the beginning of the show (EMBRO Collage I, ECHO (Study) EMBRO Collage II, Study 5, EMBRO Collage III, and Study II). Polygons of different shapes and colors dance in each, from cool grey and flat white to deep blue and hot red, many of the shapes folded into and against or over each other, creating quiet fissures and shadowed recesses interesting to contemplate. The forms seem to float in a world that is fragmented but somehow at peace with itself, dynamic yet unchanging. I stand next in front of the biggest piece in the show (MAJORE EMBRO). Here is another—yet different--blending of asymmetrical, contiguous polygons. They are impressive in size but still light in their own way, perhaps because of the airy white forms above them that seem to lift and blow outward like curtains, their movement in lovely contrast to the more static shapes below them.

Now I pause before another series of six pieces that seem connected (Small Things, EMB 14 II, EMB III, EMB Small Things 14, EMBRO I, EMB 14). They appear related both in color (black, grey, tan, and white) and form, with their blending and bending of dark and light shapes and lines (recalling both the smaller set of six pieces and the large oil). Each piece is unique in composition yet clearly related to the other pieces in its elements and parts, like siblings. I end up in front of another family of distinctive pieces (SKETCH, EMBROLOGY, SMALL THINGS EMB II, SMALL THINGS EMB III, SMALL THINGS EMB I). They are all mixed media that make use of thin red and blue lines wavering and crinkling like veins or rivers or strange earth grasses. I can see that they rework shapes I notice elsewhere in the show, but they are more linear and lighter-weight, more sculptural than architectural. The thicker black lines that define the shapes and openings are like windows or transparent bodies though which we see the red and blue lines wriggling through pale space. In these works, Leslie has created worlds of shape and color very different from the other pieces in the show. The process seems to be teaching me. I began by noticing the show’s diversity and Leslie’s mastery of many media (including oil, acrylic, collage, and pencil). The longer I walk among the work, however, the more dust of another kind I collect—a sense of the show’s organic unity and coherence. I see the presence of the Panettone box in almost all of the work, in the linear and the curving shapes, the strange, animate polygons--the bold and the fragile, the folded and unfolded, floating and grounded, shaped and shadowed, recessed and forward-all realized in a palette of recurring colors. Connected but not repetitious, the show is its own universe, a complex dance, a long conversation, a concert, many rooms of a mysterious house. It plays endlessly with possibilities, consuming itself Mobius-like. My encounter reminds me especially of two worlds I know well. The show is like a sequence of sonnets or stories with recurring themes and structures or a prolific jazz musician’s fountain of solos improvised from one succulent set of chords.

The deep coherence of Leslie’s pieces is remarkable. In a conversation before the show closes, Leslie talks about how people might see this work. What matters, he says, is “your perception of the sequence and what your network becomes,” your sense of “the kind of fabric that holds the content together, so you see it as one tapestry.” Recognize that “each piece is reminiscent of each other. All of these parts generate the whole system. You have to look in order to decipher it. There are enough clues.” Have your encounter—look, decipher, collect your own dust.

Michael Lowenstein is a Saint Louis-based writer and musician. This essay is one in a series of the gallery’s exhibitions written by fellow gallery artists and friends.

EXPLORING by Leslie Laskey 6

Exploring Beginnings

Layering Unfolding Expanding Growing

The Play From Flat to Form Nurture Sustain Grow

To Change is to Begin

AFTERWORD by Bruno L. David 8

I am pleased to present a new exhibition titled “Embrology (Small Things)” by Leslie Laskey and, his sixth solo exhibition with the Bruno David Gallery. Leslie Laskey, one of the most successful and experienced working artists in the St. Louis area, is an innovative thinker whose work never fails to make an impact on viewer perceptions. His new series titled “Embrology,” created in the last two years in St. Louis, Key West and Michigan, will not disappoint his followers and supporters. Leslie Laskey’s media of choice is ever changing, and characteristic of his work. In this new oeuvre, he incorporates collage, oil paint, acrylic, and crayon. It is this variety of media and style, which adds to the engaging quality of his work and its subsequent effect on viewers. Born in Michigan in 1921, Laskey served in a combat unit in Europe and was among the troops that landed on Omaha Beach early on 1944 D-Day. He studied at Indiana University and at the Institute of Design in Chicago (now the Illinois Institute of Technology) with founder and American Bauhaus pioneer Lászlò Moholy-Nagy. Currently, he divides his time between St. Louis, Key West, Florida and Manistee, Michigan and is a Professor Emeritus of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. Support for the creation of significant new works of art has been the core to the mission and program of the Bruno David Gallery since its founding in 2005. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Michael Lowenstein for his thoughtful essay. I am deeply grateful to Cleo Azariadis, who gave much time, talent, and expertise to the production of this catalogue. Invaluable gallery staff support for the exhibition was provided by Keri Robertson, Yoko Kiyoi, Cleo Azariadis, Yuwei Qiu, Ailing Zhang and Abigail Spratt.

CHECKLIST & IMAGES OF THE EXHIBITION

Embro Study, 2014 Oil on board 45-1/2 x 33-1/2 inches (framed) (115.57 x 85.09 cm)

SKETCH, 2014 Mixed media on paper on board 40-1/4 x 30-3/4 inches (framed) (102.23 x 78.10 cm)

EMBLEM, 2014 Oil on paper on board 38 x 36-1/2 inches (framed) (96.52 x 92.71 cm)

MAJORE EMBRO, 2014 Oil on canvas 51-1/2 x 63-1/2 inches (framed) (130.81 x 161.29 cm)

ECHO (Study), 2014 Oil on board 58 x 43 inches (framed) (147.32 x 109.22 cm)

TUMBLE (EMB), 2014 Acrylic on paper 23-1/2 x 31-1/3 inches (framed) (59.69 x 79.58 cm)

EMBRO II, 2014 Acrylic on paper 24-1/2 x 32 inches (framed) (62.23 x 81.28 cm)

EMBRO III, 2014 Acrylic on paper 24-1/2 x 32 inches (framed) (62.23 x 81.28 cm) 19

EMB 14, 2014 Oil, mixed media on paper 21-1/2 x 27-1/2 inches (framed) (54.61 x 69.85 cm)

Study II, 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

EMBRO (Small Things Study Collage), 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 13 x 13 inches (framed) (33.02 x 33.02 cm)

STUDY FOR EMBRO, 2013 Mixed media 8-1/4 x 7-1/4 inches (20.95 x 18.41 cm)

UNIT 7 EMB, 2014 Collage, oil on paper 27 x 2 inches (framed) (68.58 x 55.88 cm)

UNIT 8 EMB, 2014 Collage, oil on paper 19-1/2 x 17-1/2 inches (framed) (49.53 x 44.45 cm)

EMBRO Collage III, 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

EMBRO I, 2014 Oil on paper 24-1/2 x 32 inches (framed) (62.23 x 81.28 cm)

SMALL THINGS, 2014 Oil, mixed media on paper 17-1/4 x 21 inches (framed) (43.81 x 53.34 cm)

EMBRO V, 2014 Acrylic on paper 23-1/2 x 31-1/2 inches (framed) (59.68 x 80.01 cm) 29

Small Things / Shimmer, 2014 Ink on paper 20-1/2 x 26-1/2 inches (framed) (52.07 x 67.31 cm)

EMBROLOGY, 2014 Mixed media on paper 23-1/2 x 31-1/2 inches (framed) (58.42 x 78.74 cm)

ECHO (Study), 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

Study 5, 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

Matisseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Window, 2012 Acrylic, oil on paper 24-1/2 x 32 inches (framed) (62.23 x 81.28 cm)

Untitled, 2014 Acrylic, mixed media on paper 24 x 18 inches (60.96 x 45.72 cm)

EMBRO 2 DRAWING, 2014 Acrylic, ink on paper 31 x 23-1/2 inches (framed) (78.74 x 58.42 cm) 35

EMBRO Collage II, 2014 Collage, mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

EMBRO Collage I, 2014 Mixed media on paper 16-1/2 x 16-1/2 inches (framed) (41.91 x 41.91 cm)

SMALL THINGS EMB I, 2014 Mixed media on paper 18-1/2 x 23 inches (framed) (46.99 x 58.42 cm)

SMALL THINGS EMB III, 2014 Mixed media on paper 18-1/2 x 23 inches (framed) (46.99 x 58.42 cm)

EMB Small Things 14, 2014 Collage, oil, pencil on paper 23-1/2 x 31 inches (framed) (59.69 x 78.74 cm)

EMB DRAWING, 2014 Oil on board 25-1/2 x 20 inches (framed) (25.50 x 50.08 cm)

LESLIE LASKEY: EMBROLOGY (Small Things) at Bruno David Gallery, 2014 (installation view) 42

LESLIE LASKEY: EMBROLOGY (Small Things) at Bruno David Gallery, 2014 (installation view) 44

LESLIE LASKEY: EMBROLOGY (Small Things) at Bruno David Gallery, 2014 (installation view) 46

LESLIE LASKEY: EMBROLOGY (Small Things) at Bruno David Gallery, 2014 (installation view) 48

LESLIE LASKEY: EMBROLOGY (Small Things) at Bruno David Gallery, 2014 (installation view) 51

LESLIE LASKEY American, b. 1921 Lives and works in St. Louis, Missouri and Manistee, Michigan

EDUCATION Institute of Design (Illinois Institute of Technology), Chicago, IL

ONE-PERSON EXHIBITIONS 2014 2013

Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Embrology, October, St. Louis, MO (Catalogue) Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Windows, September, St. Louis, MO (Catalogue) Manierre Dawson Gallery, Leslie Laskey, Community College, Scottville, MI 2011 Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: S.E.N.T., September-October, St. Louis, MO Steinberg Hall Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Retrospective, Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, September 9-October 1, St. Louis, MO 2010 Bruno David Gallery, Portrait: Artist and Friends, November, St. Louis, MO 2009 Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Tango, September-October, St. Louis, MO 2008 Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Work, March-April, St. Louis, MO 2007 New Space Gallery, Leslie Laskey and Frank Schwaiger, May, St. Louis, MO Bruno David Gallery (New Media Room), Archeologie, July-August, St. Louis, MO 2006 Sheldon Art Galleries, Ars Botanica: Works by Leslie Laskey, September 29, 2006 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; January 27, 2007, St. Louis, MO Ellen Curlee Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Lilium, September-October, 2006 Bruno David Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Realms, May 5-27, St. Louis, MO 2005 Gallery of Contemporary Art, Journeys, Territories, Adventures, (St. Louis Community College-Forest Park), February 7-25, St. Louis, MO 2004 Columbia Foundation, MMIII (with Frank Schwaiger), St. Louis, MO

2004 2003 2001 1999 1995 1989 1987 1987 1985 1984 1980 1979 1978

Cherokee Gallery, Doll (Portraits), St. Louis, MO Columbia Foundation, Redux: Work on Paper (Amaryllis Suite), St. Louis, MO Columbia Foundation, Duet (with Frank Schwaiger), St. Louis, MO Columbia Foundation, New Works (with Frank Schwaiger), St. Louis, MO Gallery of Contemporary Art, Opus 1995 Variations, (St. Louis Community College-Forest Park), September, St. Louis, MO Elliot Smith Gallery, Leslie Laskey: Encounters: Prints, Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture, September-October, St. Louis, MO Bixby Gallery, Leslie Laskey Retrospective, St. Louis, MO Elliot Smith Gallery, Sticks, St. Louis, MO North Carolina State Museum, Leslie Laskey, Raleigh, NC Elliot Smith Gallery, On Paper: Leslie Laskey Suite of New Drawings, St. Louis, MO Martin Schweig Gallery, Leslie Laskey, St. Louis, MO Talisman Gallery, Leslie Laskey, St. Louis, MO St. George’s Gallery, Leslie Laskey, London, England

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2014 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004

Halftone, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO OVERVIEW_2014, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO BLUE-WHITE-RED, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO W.O.P. I, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO OVERVIEW_10, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO OVERVIEW_09, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO OVERVIEW_08, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO ArtsDesire, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. OVERVIEW_07, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO OVERVIEW, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO Inaugural Exhibition, Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO RITUAL, Zeitgeist Gallery, October-November, Nashville, TN Mentors: Inspiration, Influence, Expertise, St. Louis Artists’ Guild Gallery, St. Louis, MO

2002 1988 1987 1986 1983

The Bauhaus Legacy in St. Louis: Woodcuts by Werner Drewes, Leslie Laskey, and Jim Harris, Curated by Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, Sheldon Art Galleries, St. Louis, MO Directions ‘88, Elliot Smith Gallery St. Louis, MO House, Garden: A Sense of Place, Elliot Smith Gallery St. Louis, MO Directions ‘87, Elliot Smith Gallery St. Louis, MO Directions ‘86, Elliot Smith Gallery St. Louis, MO Group Exhibition, Print Club Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

BIBLIOGRAPHY Lowenstein, Michael Fowler, Nancy & Arnold, Willis Griesbach, Hermes Sarah

“The Art of the Process.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) November 2014 “Leslie Laskey and Frank Schwaiger.” NPR/KWMU, October 23, 2014

Gay, Malcolm

“And suddenly, there was a frame.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) September 2013

Fowler, Nancy Harris, Jim

“Leslie Laskey: The Art of Life, A Life in Art.” St. Louis Beacon, September 7, 2011 “Leslie Laskey.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) September 2011

“Artists plumb their unconscious for Bruno David.” St. Louis Beacon, September 23, 2013

Vallowe, Megan “S.E.N.T. Security Envelopes Now Tampered.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) September 2011 Harris, Jim “Leslie Laskey: Tango.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) September 2009 Bonetti, David. “Leslie Laskey: Shows Illustrate Art-design Connection.”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, March 30, 2008 Gay, Malcolm “Art Capsules: Leslie Laskey.” Riverfront Times, March 12, 2008 Duffy, Robert “A Testament of Blossoms and Bones.” Bruno David Gallery Publications (catalogue) March 2008 ____________. “Leslie Laskey.” Art-Patrol, March 19, 2008 Gay, Malcolm “Everything’s Coming Up Laskey.” Riverfront Times, September 28, 2006 Friswold, Paul . “Coin of the Realms.” Riverfront Times. p. 25, May 4, 2006 Duffy, Robert “Ars Botanica: Works by Leslie J. Laskey.” Riverfront Times, November 2006

Drury Dubinsky, Yvette. Miller, Rob. ____________. Murphy, Ann ____________. Crone, Tomas. Beall, Hugh. Miller, Rob. Cooper, Ivy. Bonetti, David. Crone, Tomas. Miller, Rob. Bonetti, David. Sieloff, Alison. Bonetti, David. Murphy, Anne. Miller, Rob. Beall, Hugh. Griffin, William Bonetti, David. Sieloff, Alison. Bonetti, David. Murphy, Anne. ____________. Otten, Liam. Church, Amanda

“Leslie Laskey: Realms.” Bruno David Gallery Publication, May 5, 2006 “’Leslie Laskey: Realms” Saintlouisart, May 24, 2006. http://saintlouisart.blogspot.com/ “Doll face”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, April 21, 2005 “ARTful Living,” The Healthy Planet, February 2005 “Leslie Laskey”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, September 27, 2005 “Bruno David to Open on Friday”, 52nd City, October 2005 “The Bruno buzz”, West End Word, October 26, 2005 “’Over hung’ show or ‘Hung over’ critic?” Saintlouisart, November 17, 2005 “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, Riverfront Times, November 9, 2005 “Bruno David Gallery”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, November 9, 2005 “Bruno David Gallery”, 52nd City, October 2005, http://blog.52ndcity.com/archives “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, Saintlouisart, October 25, 2005. http://saintlouisart.blogspot.com/ “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 20, 2005 “Grand Grand Center”, Riverfront Times, October 19, 2005 “Gallery musical chairs”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 1, 2005 “Art News”, The Healthy Planet, September 2005, http://www.thehealthyplanet.com/sept05_artfulliving.htm “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, Saintlouisart, October 25, 2005. http://saintlouisart.blogspot.com/ “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, Illusion Junkie, October 25, 2005. Web Video. http://illusionjunkie.blogspot.com/2005/10/bruno-david-inaugural-exhibition.html “Bruno David Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 20, 2005 “Grand Grand Center”, Riverfront Times, October 19, 2005 “Gallery musical chairs”, St. Louis Post Dispatch, October 1, 2005 “Art News”, The Healthy Planet, September 2005, http://www.thehealthyplanet.com/sept05_artfulliving.htm “Leslie Laskey.” Riverfront Times, September 25, 2002 “Three degrees of Bauhaus”, Record, February 15, 2002 “Beautiful You.” Artnet Magazine, October 24, 2001

PUBLICATIONS - FILM “Forty-seven Views of Leslie Laskey” directed and produced by Lulu Gargiulo and David Wild.

GRANTS & AWARDS 1982 1986 1987

Rockefeller Foundation Grant (Print Making and Graphic Arts) Washington University Distinguished Faculty Award Distinguished Professor Award (Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture) Washington University Professor Emeritus

ARTISTS Laura Beard Lisa K. Blatt Shawn Burkard Bunny Burson Carmon Colangelo Alex Couwenberg Jill Downen Yvette Drury Dubinsky Beverly Fishman Damon Freed

Richard Hull Kim Humphries Ellen Jantzen Michael Jantzen Kelley Johnson Howard Jones (Estate) Chris Kahler Bill Kohn (Estate) Leslie Laskey Peter Marcus

Judy Pfaff Daniel Raedeke Tom Reed Frank Schwaiger Charles Schwall Christina Shmigel Thomas Sleet Shane Simmons Buzz Spector Cindy Tower

Douglass Freed Joan Hall

Patricia Olynyk Gary Passanise

Mario Trejo Ken Worley

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