I grew up in Singapore at a time when the country was rapidly undergoing social and economic transitions from third world to first. My childhood was spent discovering unused back roads, hidden vistas, and pockets of nature off the beaten gravel roads that were sprouting up everywhere in the country. My paintings are a reflection of this lived experience and my migratory encounters with other places, cities, and cultures.

I work primarily in the medium of painting. Utilizing axonometric and linear perspectives, romantic tones, luminous hues, thick and thin glazes of paint, I create paintings that describe the changing social landscape we face today. Across my paintings, man-made dwellings, monuments, apartment blocks, and architecture meet minutely detailed landscapes comprising trees, rocks, sky, sea, flowers, and other little observations in the natural environment. These paintings are liminal spaces that reflect on places of healing, ethnic identity, sustainability, myths and native histories, as well as the emotional connection towards an adopted home vis-à-vis one’s ethnographical place of origin.

As a migrant artist in the United States, I draw deeply from my experience and the connections I make with the people along this journey. I bring with me a free spirit and undying hope that is reflected in the translucent and highly saturated hues I am fond of using. The canvas becomes a surface to bridge cultures, places, and people together through the free association of colored shapes and forms with my memories and lived experiences. My process begins with abstract color and gesture that I merge with imagery from my subconscious thoughts and dreams. This allows me to paint freely and spontaneously and for humanoid and animalistic forms to manifest freely without pre-determination.

Caught in states of bewilderment, confusion, and anxiety, these humanoid and animalistic forms describe the absurdity and frustration at the horrors facing the world today. From climate change to xenophobia, conflict, and the rise of totalitarian regimes, the vibrant colors are a silver lining and longing for hope of a kinder and more beautiful world. At the same time, they conceal feelings of confusion, absurdity, fear, and repression that manifest from the eerie rise of injustice and suffering.

Biography

Leonard Yang works primarily in painting and is currently based in Brooklyn, NY.

Leonard has shown in group exhibitions at Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA, Silvermine Gallery, CT, Local Project Art Space, NY, La Bodega Gallery, NY, Gallery MC, NY, Atlantic Gallery, NY, Bowery Gallery, NY, and Agora Gallery, NY. Internationally, Leonard has exhibited in The Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS), The Visual Arts Development Association (VADA) Singapore, Dongdaemun Design Centre, Korea, and the National Gallery of Indonesia.

Leonard has participated in residency programs at The Alex Brown Foundation, Des Moines, IA, Millay Arts, NY, and the Goethe Institute, Jakarta, Indonesia. His paintings have been featured in interviews and publications with Singapore Unbound, Genre Urban Arts, Orenda Arts Journal, the National University of Singapore, and the Goethe Institute, Jakarta, Indonesia. Leonard graduated from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (BFA 2015), and Parsons, The New School for Design, New York, NY (MFA 2019)

Solo Exhibitions:

2022
HELICOPTER COUNTRY – Your Mother Gallery, Singapore

2021
'Bringing Home, Home', online solo exhibition – Art Yourself Studio, New York, NY

2020
'Bringing Home, Home' a solo exhibition by Leonard Yang – Jalan Besar Salon, Singapore

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2024
'Superfine Art Fair San Francisco' , presented by Roundcollab, San Francisco, CA
2023
‘Embrace’, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, CA
‘A Particular Place’ – Outdoor public wall mural presented at Archifest 2023, Singapore
‘A Spring of Stories – Lead Artist for Community Art Exhibition, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore
Code Switch – Group Exhibition at Kampong Bugis Cosmic Market, Singapore
2022
Kundiman Fall 2022 Fundraiser “Stars and the Ever After” – Kundiman, New York, NY
The Patriot – O'Flaherty's New York, NY
Give Peace a Chance – Your Mother Gallery, Singapore
Death is Not the End… Birth is Not the Beginning – Your Mother Gallery, Singapore
2021
PAINT 2021 – New Canaan, CT
Bowery Gallery Annual Juried Exhibition – New York, NY
2020
Night & Day – Local Project Art Space, New York, NY
2019
Puro Color 2 – La Bodega Gallery, New York, NY
Art 52nd Street 2019 – Gallery MC, New York, NY
More Than Landscape – Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Escapeism – Curated by Katharine Dufault, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2018
Dissociations: Land, Water, Flesh – Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Praxis of Artist and Curator – Curated by Dahye Kim, Columbia University, New York, NY
Asian Students and Young Artist's Art Fair (ASYAAF) – Dongdaemun Design Center, Seoul, Korea
European Literature Night – Bohemian National Hall, New York, NY
2017
Now, an Unbecoming – Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Mirabillia: A book of Wonders – curated by Paulina Kim, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY
Chelsea International Fine Art Competition Exhibition – Agora Gallery, New York, NY
Mutual Unknown – Galeri Nasional Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
2016
Liminal State – Mizuma Gallery, Singapore
UNTAPPED Emerging – Visual Arts Development Association (VADA), Singapore
Harper's Bazaar Art Prize Exhibition – Singapore
2015
Collective Dreams: Images from a New Generation Pop-up Noise Exhibition – Singapore
Photo Speaks 2015 | 7th International Festival for Photography and Video – Busan, Korea
The Mill x WeJungle: Destruction and Rebirth – Singapore
ART STAGE Singapore 2015: We Are ASIA Student Competition Exhibition – Singapore
ASEAN–Korean Multimedia Competition Exhibition – Seoul, Korea
2014
COS•MO The Constant Self Recording Mode – curated by Gilles Massot, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore (ICAS), Singapore

Awards and Residencies:

Nov 2023 | Alex Brown Foundation Residency, Des Moines, Iowa, USA
Aug 2023 | Lively Places Fund Grant Recipient, Urban Redevelopment Authority, Singapore
Oct 2022 | Community Arts Residency, Republic Polytechnic, Singapore
July 2022 | Millay Arts Core Residency, Austerlitz, NY, USA
June 2017 | Mutual Unknown Residency, Goethe Institute, Jakarta, Indonesia
Oct 2016 | Research Project Funding Grant, awarded by LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
Sept 2015 | Harper’s Bazaar Art Prize Finalist
Aug 2015 | Celeste Prize – Editor’s Choice
Mar 2015 | National Arts Council Matchbox Grant (Youth Arts)
Jan 2015 | ART STAGE Singapore 2015 We Are ASIA Student Competition: 2nd Prize
Jan 2014 | Winner of ASEAN-Korea Multimedia Competition 2014
Aug 2014 | School of Humanities and Social Sciences (NTU) Dean’s List