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8/1/2003

J. Leone

Paul Rodgers / 9W, New York

J. Leone
Realities of Place, Space & Time
January 9 - February 15, 2003

Paul Rodgers/9W gallery will inaugurate the New Year on January 9, 2003 with an exceptional New York solo debut for artist J. Leone. “Realities of Place, Space & Time” will showcase historical photo-based installations together with recent works.

In an unprecedented move, the gallery will remount ten of eleven major installation pieces from Leone’s ground-breaking exhibition at Harvard University in 1991, where she invented her unique installation approach to photography. Paul Rodgers, gallerist, explains, “I worked hard on Ms. Leone, who is notorious for shunning the regular art channels, to do this show of the Harvard work. The historical content of many of the images speaks to the current international political situation in a fascinating and original way, and the total experience will undoubtedly draw people from beyond the usual gallery crowd.” Paul Rodgers 9W is proud to offer the public the extraordinary experience of seeing the collection together for one last time.

The Harvard installations are built around photographs Leone took in Romania under the repressive regime of Ceausescu, pre-Taliban and pre-Russian invasion Afghanistan, Thailand during the Khmer Rouge invasion, as well as work done in Iran, Guatemala and Egypt. The majority of these vintage shots date from the early seventies at the pre-dawn of modern tourism when Leone traveled extensively through Asia. The 11th installation of the Sphinx (now owned by the Luxor Hotel in Los Vegas) could not be brought east in time for the show.

Like most turning-point exhibits, the Harvard show gained more attention and critical examination when it passed into history than at the time of the event. “Critics, curators, collectors and even other artists often begin by focusing on the formal and conceptual aspects of Leone’s work. However, the installations are powerful because they bend the viewer’s mind and force one to confront how our personal assumptions construct personal realities from the external world,” said Rodgers.

A new three panel installation called “The Echo of Time,” based on the destruction of the giant Buddhas by the Taliban in Afghanistan, shows how Leone has moved forward in her technique without abandoning her fundamental conceptual premise. Other recent works include “Chicken or Egg”, which had a brief appearance at the Armory show in October and was singled out by Artnet’s Editor-in-Chief, Walter Robinson, as “eye-catching fare…”



J. Leone began her career in the 60’s in New York and then moved to California. From the outset she had a strong sense of vocation which she felt was neither matched by the technical means of photographic reproduction during the 70’s and 80’s nor an understanding that photography is a medium that has to be developed into fine art. With hindsight, J. Leone may emerge as a significant pioneer in the development of a new media aesthetic which is so important in the art world right now.

The gallery intends hanging the show by January 1st in order to give one whole week for the press to preview the exhibit before the show opens to the public January 9.

Further biographical information on Ms. Leone can be found on our web site at gallery artists.

Image: "The Imps", © J. Leone 1975/91, Afghanistan 1975, Cibachrome, 40" x 60", 4 part installation

Paul Rodgers / 9W
529 West 20th Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10011
t. 212.414.9810
f. 212.414.9844

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