A Stego On an Oil Rig and Other Wonderful Drawings

A few days ago I went to see an exhibit of Wolfe von Lenkiewicz's work, curated by a fascinating patron-cum-art-fund organization called All Visual Arts, and hung in what seemed to be an old school building just across from Euston Station. I think I have a new favorite living artist.

(you must click to see full-size images)

Von Lenkiewicz's pencil drawings are so incredibly right on - technically, art-historically, and creatively. They look like Old Master etchings, especially those produced in the North of Europe in the sixteenth century (read: Albrecht Dürer). Prints and drawings are definitely my favorite media, and the fifteenth to sixteenth century was when a lot of my all-time favorite art was produced, plus I really dig what some might call "wacky" ideas - so Mr. von Lenkiewicz had me totally stoked. He also had a bronze on display, an intaglio print or two, and a few oil paintings. But the drawings are where he really shines.

And I am not the only who thinks so - the show did really well! I read somewhere online that about half of the work was sold by the end of opening night. I went on the second to last day (so unfortunately you missed your chance - unless you went, too!), and the guy working there told me that it was nearly sold out and everyone involved was super happy with the results. With this economic climate (I know, we're all getting tired of hearing about it, talking about it, etc... but still...) and the resulting state of the art market, I was so glad to hear that somebody making truly excellent work is still able to sell it. I would take his tiniest drawing over the biggest butterfly painting out there any day of the week, that's for damn sure.

Unfortunately they wouldn't let us take pictures of the show, which is a shame, because the setting really added to the pieces. Upon walking in you saw this 2008 bronze, St. Eustace, situated within an incredibly ornate entryway - marble columns, green gilded wallpaper and all that - the light shining on it just right, it looked a whole lot more impressive than it does here :



(Yeah, that's an airplane crashing into Bambi's head.)


Here are a few of my favorite pencil drawings from the show, some of which were hung in rooms with bright red carpets, fireplaces, huge windows, and school-style numbers on the doors :

All this evil is come upon us, 2009, 25 x 20 cm.

Iwo Jima Cavalry, 2009, 25 x 20 cm.

O Death where is thy sting?, 2008, 30.5 x 38 cm.

To say they look better in real life is an obvious understatement. I can't get over von Lenkiewicz's superb line handling skill and the meticulously expert attention to detail entailed in each and every piece. The recurring themes of the motifs of war, terrorism, pop-culture and religion - along with the re-appropriation of our everyday fears and strangest dreams - made for a show that at first glance might have looked hundreds of years old but was distinctly twenty-first century, and I can't wait to see what this artist does next.