April 18 through July 10, 2002
Dennis Leon: Perpetual Objects
Gallery 555
555 12th Street, Oakland, CA
Lobby. Hours 7am - 6pm.
located in downtown Oakland
Open and free to the public. BART, AC Transit and Wheelchair accessible.

Presented by the Oakland Museum of California Professional Services division

Dennis Leon, Altered Rock, plywood, 115" x 112" x 84"

For many years, art professionals have sought innovative ways to bring contemporary art to the general public by establishing alternative art venues outside the walls of museums and galleries. “Perpetual Objects”, the Oakland Museum of California’s latest foray into nontraditional art spaces, launches a changing exhibition series in the museum’s newest satellite venue, Gallery 555. This groundbreaking exhibit, on view from April 18 through July 10, 2002, celebrates the work of artist and educator Dennis Leon.

“Perpetual Objects” is the inaugural show at Gallery 555, an innovative fine art exhibition space made possible by a partnership between the Oakland Museum of California and Shorenstein Realty Services.

“Perpetual Objects” features seven large-scale sculptures and two collage drawings by Leon, whose work has earned him a place in many national and international museums. Leon was born in England in 1933 and spent much of his childhood exploring the nearby moors of Yorkshire. It was during these walks that Leon developed his lifelong passion for landscape.

After receiving his Masters from the Tyler School in Philadelphia, Leon moved to Oakland in 1972 to become the Dean of the Sculpture Department at the California College of Arts and Crafts where he remained as Professor Emeritus until his death in 1998.

Throughout his career, Leon drew upon the natural world around him for inspiration in creating his monolithic works. “Nature is made up of lots of little pieces and things, yet its unity is implicit,” said Leon in 1990. “Nature is the birthplace and diary for memory. Nature doesn’t notice my dilemma of being simultaneously in it and an observer of it.”

Dennis Leon, Beach Stones #7, collage and pastel, 60" x 89"

The geological sculptures seen in “Perpetual Objects” assert the depth to which he was influenced by the sensuous topography of Northern California. In Altered Rock, irregular sheets of plywood secured with screws and glue tower over us to resemble an outcropping of rock. In Rock Face #5, Leon systematically burned, scarred and marked the surface to resemble craggy rock faces. In Proscenium, a monolithic mass of rock that has been cast in bronze asserts its quiet presence and unmistakable inertia. Even in his drawings, one senses the hand of a romantic and descriptive draftsman, seeking to capture a sense of time passing.

When contemplating his work, Leon wanted the audience to be open-minded, to resist interpreting the pieces in a narrative or didactic context. One can almost sense his silent encouragement to move beyond the pictorial and physical characteristics of the artwork and to focus inward on what already exists within one’s own psyche. Our memories and past associations with nature are at the core of Leon’s artwork, not newly felt emotions or learned experiences. Leon’s objects exist to share their history with the viewer and in doing so, they illuminate parts of ourselves we didn’t know were there.