From a flattened, remixed kid-face shuffling on a video billboard in Detroit, to the epic mutant on the exquisite corpse Tumblr project Cloaque, Rollin Leonard has been exhibiting photography-based work since 2004. It’s body horror… if body horror was very nice to look at. His first solo show of polished plexiglass’ed sculptures, looped moving images and digital collages “Trunks, Stems and Heads” opens on October 12th, at Brooklyn’s TRANSFER Gallery.
Here’s a preview of the Flat Face series — a detailed digital image, peeled off the subject’s head with his skin and features, flattened and turned into high definition, re-arrangeable glossy blocks.
The focus of this show is in recognizing humanity in piles of “piles of digitally mutilated forms” and “organs, limbs and torsos” “strewn about” and “disfigured through collision.”
The work is all very physical and labor intensive, especially the are large-scale life-size pieces.
Leonard’s 360° portraits featured on the Creator’s Project will also be on view with Lilia, sliced into individually rotating horizontal planes, made with Leonard’s very DIY protractor set-up of laser pointer, swivel chair and math.
This is what physical labor looks like.
There’s an opening with the artist on Saturday, October 12 (7-11 PM), with an after party at Alaska Bar and a closing on November 9 (7 -11 PM) with “Anatomize,” an event curated by Leonard featuring GIFs from 50 artists.
A handmade publication produced by the artist will be available for collection, featuring essays, one by yours truly, named after a Grimes song. LULZ.
“Trunks, Stems & Heads,” Rollin Leonard, Oct 12 – Nov 9, TRANSFER Gallery, Brooklyn
(All Images Courtesy of the Artist)
