Old Tishman Auditorium, first floor of 66 W. 12th Street (A building, room 106)
Shaun Leonardo’s multidisciplinary work negotiates societal expectations of manhood, namely
definitions surrounding black and brown masculinities, along with its notions of achievement, collective
identity, and experience of failure. His performance practice, anchored by his work in Assembly—a
diversion program for court-involved youth at the Brooklyn-based, arts nonprofit Recess—is participatory
and invested in a process of embodiment. Leonardo is a Brooklyn-based artist from Queens, New York
City. His work has been featured at The Guggenheim Museum, the High Line, and New Museum, and
recently profiled in the New York Times and CNN. His solo exhibition, The Breath of Empty Space, was
recently presented at MICA, MASS MoCA and The Bronx Museum. And his first major public art
commission, Between Four Freedoms, recently premiered at Four Freedoms Park Conservancy.
Leonardo recently joined Recess as Co-Director, helping guide the organization’s continuous evolution as
an engine of social change. Elcleonardo.com
Shaun Leonardo: Primitive Games
