Leonardo Drew Joins Hauser & Wirth Ahead of Art Basel Debut
Hauser & Wirth has added Leonardo Drew (b. 1961) to its roster, taking on worldwide representation of the American sculptor as his market and museum profile continue to expand. The gallery said it will present a new work, “Number 451,” at Art Basel later this month, with Drew’s first solo exhibition with the gallery slated to open in New York in fall 2027.
For more than four decades, Drew has built a singular practice from weathered wood, metal, paper, and other found materials. His sculptures and installations often read as accumulations and ruptures at once: surfaces that suggest erosion, repair, and the slow pressure of time. That language has made him one of the most recognizable figures in contemporary American sculpture.
His work is already held by major institutions including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and Tate. In recent years, Drew has also been visible in ambitious public and museum projects, among them “City in the Grass” in Madison Square Park in New York.
Marc Payot, president of Hauser & Wirth, said in a statement that Drew’s work follows the path of the late Jack Whitten and, alongside Mark Bradford, is helping shape abstraction as a way of questioning the world as it is now. He also pointed to the gallery’s continued collaboration with Anthony Meier and Goodman Gallery, which have supported Drew’s career.
Born in Tallahassee, Florida, and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Drew first exhibited at age 13. He later studied at Cooper Union, where Whitten mentored him, and now lives and works between Brooklyn and San Antonio. The move places him within one of the largest global gallery networks at a moment when his work is drawing sustained institutional and market attention.
