studio visit: bonny leibowitz
I haven’t been to many artist studios, but after visiting Bonny’s space, it’s apparent that the artist explores her work without any obvious hold-backs or limitations. From encaustic to sculpture, incorporating feathers and faux fur, it seems that Bonny is no stranger to experimentation.
Her work spans geographically from California to New York and is a common participant at high profile museums and galleries.
Courtesy of Bonny Leibowitz
Bonny’s studio is a unique space. The large building hosts separate areas for art classes, encaustic painting, and artist’s own workroom.
All SHE Makes founder Svitlana Martynjuk and artist Bonny Leibowitz. Photo: Yevhen Prokopenko.
Leibowitz experience dates back to the 80’s. Aside from being an artist, her work ranges between jurying, curating, directing residencies, and teaching.
Photo: Yevhen Prokopenko
To say that I was overwhelmed by the meticulous detail and, simultaneously, a carefree attitude of Bonny’s work would be an understatement. Enjoy these very personal close-ups.
Bonny also collaborated on a small piece with another sculpture artist and curator, Christina Massey. Christina happened to curate one of our first online shows during the pandemic. She is also a strong supporter of making space for women artists and founded WoArt Blog, a platform dedicated to highlighting amazing 3D artists.
Svitlana and Bonny
Bio
Leibowitz produces objects, installations and paintings utilizing a multitude of materials in ways that often disguise their origin, blurring the boundaries between the manufactured and the natural.
Her solo exhibitions include The Art Gallery - Collin College, Plano, TX., Terrain Dallas, Dallas, TX., Baugh Center for the Visual Arts at Mary Hardin-Baylor University, Belton TX., No.4 Studio in Brooklyn, NY, The Neon Heater in Findlay, OH., Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas, TX, Art Cube Gallery in Laguna Beach, CA, The Museum of Art, Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX. and Cohn Drennan Contemporary in Dallas, TX.
Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including; Exquisite Corpse at Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Chaos at Ro2 Art in Dallas, The State of Sculpture exhibition at San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, What on Earth curated by Debra Brehmer, Milwaukee, WI, Embody curated by Krista Scenna at Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT and Art in America at Art Basel Satellite Art Fair, Miami, Florida. Online: Mostly Monochrome curated by Christina Massey, Site: Brooklyn, Painting 2011-2021, curated by Peter Frank, Drawing Challenge XXII at Jason McCoy Gallery, NYC, Changing a Point of View, Sculpture & Installation curated by Christina Massey at All She Makes
In 2020 Leibowitz created a conceptual installation series: The Visitation Project incorporating her work, digitally, into images of environments sent by invited artists from all over the world.
In 2019 Leibowitz’s work was featured in New American Paintings.
Leibowitz has participated in residencies with Judy Pfaff and Michael David culminating in group exhibitions in Brooklyn, NY at M. David & Co.
Reviews and interviews of her work have been featured in Art Uncovered podcast with Kimberly Ruth, ATOA with Barry Kostrinsky, Art Spiel with Etty Yaniv, Visionary Art Projects, Winging It podcast with Charles Hackbarth and Marc Cohen, Studio Visit with Jason Reynaga Wade College, The Houston Review with Matthew Mendez, Vassari21 with Ann Landi, Maake Magazine, Pleat, Studio Critical with Valerie Brennan, Curating Contemporary with Brian Edmonds, Mixed Media Tapes with Phillip J. Mellen, Luxe Magazine, Modern Dallas, Dallas Morning News with Michael Granberry, Art Funk with Rachel and Ryan Rushing and Papercity.
Originally from Philadelphia, Leibowitz lives in Dallas, TX. where she maintains her studio practice.
Artist Statement:
My work is based in self-reflection, observing and breaking down multifaceted, long held beliefs related to perceptions of separateness and connectedness. The investigation is realized through objects and installations utilizing and manipulating a multitude of materials in ways that often disguise their origin; seamlessly blurring the boundaries between the manufactured and the natural. I like to think of my work as fragments of a blown apart reality, reconstructed into a landscape – both physical and internal, where forms collide and conjoin in myriad nuance and potential.
As I work, I often envision bits of life, a torso, a tree, a wing, a wave or a cloud for instance, drawing on what I imagine beyond the studio walls but inherently “know” internally; memories, impressions and experiences, extracting and abstracting their essence, forming them into new iterations which reveal connections and push against expectations. The pieces can feel body-like, plastic, fragile or timeless - somehow familiar, somehow unknown.
Oftentimes, I build and saw apart my structures, over and over, cracking them open, adding materials and reconfiguring them to make anew. For me, this process physically reflects the continuum of life in every moment through deconstruction and transformation; knowing no moment, circumstance or person exists as a long term, permanent reality. "... To live fully is to be always in no-man's-land, to experience each moment as completely new and fresh. To live is to be willing to die over and over again." - Pema Chodron.
I’m interested in the silent, invisible lines of connection as words and definitions are never fully sufficient and that by virtue of the fact we give a thing a name, we immediately speak to what it is not – forming a sense of separateness.
Some of my influences lie in the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods including Rubens, Bosch and Goya. My work engages and is entangled with this history as a mirror to the psyche and consciousness.
"We are constantly creating the environment that creates us" – David Whyte
Connect with Bonny:
www.bonnyleibowitz.com
bonny@bonnyleibowitz.com
