Katya Leonovich: American Renaissance
Leonovich Gallery 10/1-12/31/24
Leonovich Gallery presents an inaugural show curated by Elga Wimmer of eighteen new large-scale oil on canvas paintings by Katya Leonovich, gallerist, and artist. The gallery is the "new kid on the block" of established and mega-galleries on West 24th Street in the N.Y. art district for international and world-class artists. The daring and expansive works on view have not been molded to the usual expectations that typically reflect the "New York School" painting style; far from it! Her freely flowing radical painting technique is linked through touch and content to German Expressionism. Leonovich, a former fashion designer, goes all in with rough, textured brush strokes of unusual vigor. Her highly pitched colored narratives do not spare the viewer or seek to please. They are emotionally charged statements that focus on male subjects, accentuating the tension and highly wrought challenges that span the lives of many men in Western culture.
Leonovich paints the figures in loose, vibrant strokes that draw the eye through the fluid musculature of her nude male figures, many of whom express the discord of a struggle with animals that may symbolize the impulses and emotions they are confronting. The bright, uncompromising backgrounds function as metaphors for the aggressiveness, strength, roughness, and unrestrained physicality that is often associated with men. Women, in contrast, have traditionally been linked with the finer feelings of caring, empathy, compassion, and delicacy of manner and behavior. Women sometimes cry when a film has an especially sad ending; I question if men have been sufficiently liberated yet to cry at a sad conclusion!
These are not harmonious colors, they are visually searing, challenging the observer to confront a non-traditional approach to visual expression; their unrelenting power may startle the viewer, until they become accustomed to the force of its impact. Various animals function as foils that engage the male subjects in ferocious physical combat, but some works reflect reconciliation, perhaps displaying mastery over difficult tendencies and feelings. There are around eight works that explore the process of struggle, while another eight display a sense of companionship and shared well-being between men and wild animals that personify their passions and instincts.
A variety of carefully chosen creatures establish the character of the action in each format. In "Crescendo," a large gorilla and an alligator surround a crouching man, hinting at the brutality he may face in his own evolving nature and the strong force of his id/sexuality. In "Universal Manna," the figure tries to extricate his foot from a kangaroo pouch, perhaps to free himself from the overbearing influence of his own mother or of his ancestral roots. In "Lionheart," the cool blue male seen from the back manages to overcome a young lion that he carries on his shoulders; the lion in Mesopotamian reliefs signifies the battle between the creator-mother lion and the male destroyer.
The painting "In Obscurity to Danger" features a seated figure who grips an erect asp while he sits seemingly comfortably on the shell of a large tortoise. In China, the snake is a sexual symbol associated with the male organ, which is a vehicle for lust. Snakes are thought to embody cleverness and duplicity. The turtle is the Native American symbol for the Earth Mother and for the Earth itself. In China, the tortoise encircled by a snake represents the North and Winter, embodying the belief that all tortoises are females who exclusively mate with snakes. "Knockout" is an especially intense image of a fallen boxer who is lying vulnerable in the ring overseen by a triumphant kangaroo. Kangaroos in Australia are known to be both fierce fighters and vigilant mothers who embody ancestral spirits. This image denotes circumstances in which the confrontation with the weaknesses of one's inbred heritage has been lost.
These paintings express Leonovich's personal agendas in provocative imagery and contrasting hues. The works recall the ruthless quality that defines the art of Francis Bacon. They spur the viewer to explore their own susceptibilities in response to the artist's concerns. These works are highly original. It is rare for an artist to display such unlimited dynamism with such unfolding vigor. Leonovich explores men's psyches to reveal their inner demons in order to find what lies below the surface of the so-called civilized man. Her investigation is thorough and intense. She tenaciously digs into her content until vital aspects of men’s characters are made visually manifest, employing animal symbolism as the core of her narratives.
Color plays a significant role in her oeuvre. She is not willing to tone down the highly charged feelings behind the brightly contrasting, even clashing colors she freely uses. Her work is not meant to be pretty or restrained, quite the opposite, but it is nothing if not wholly authentic. Leonovich perhaps mirrors in her art the contentious political atmosphere we are experiencing in contemporary America. The painting "Monkey Business" suggests the total folly that engaging in war perpetrates. The show encompasses some political undertones, as seen in "You Choose." Finally, the painting that borrows the title of Johnny Cash’s song "I Walk the Line" visually expresses musical notes played by a naked man in a cowboy hat. Our democracy is on the brink of implosion, just as these figures are, for the most part, on the edge of their inner turmoil, in search of a way through and out of the confusion and angst that will lead some of the subjects to serenity.
Self-taught Russian artist Leonovich has much to say and is unapologetic about how she presents her visions in deeply mythic engagements between man and his inner demons. Her art can be seen as a feminist manifesto that makes men, instead of solely women, the subjects under scrutiny in life's constant battle to break us or strengthen us. Her animal imagery perfectly suggests the impulses that must be overcome in order to find peace, clarity, and tranquility within oneself and in one’s battle for self-understanding and self-control. The darker backgrounds on some paintings seem to imply night, as if some forces are just below the surface of the subconscious mind, waiting to emerge to be recognized and dealt with. One of the most striking aspects of these works is the confident depiction of male anatomy in strong, forceful brush strokes that mold the tendons and muscles to the underlying bodily forms. Leonovich's professional work in men's fashion has strengthened her ability to capture the movement of the male body convincingly.