Leonard Reidelbach is a painter and printmaker with a background in community arts programming. Born in Richmond, VA, he has lived in Brooklyn, NY, New Orleans, LA, and now lives and works in San Francisco, CA. He holds a BFA from Maryland Institute College of Art (2012) and is a current MFA candidate at San Francisco State University (2022). In 2020, he received the Martin Wong Scholarship and the Murphy Cadogan Award on behalf of San Francisco State University. He is an alumnus of Studio Art Center International, Florence, IT (2010) and the apprenticeship program at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia PA (2013). He was a teacher and volunteer for the New Orleans’s Community Print Shop and Darkroom (2014-2015). He has shown work in San Francisco, New York, Huntington Beach, Baltimore, and Florence, including a solo show at Adobe Books Backroom Gallery in 2020. He has worked as a master printer in a screen printing studio, a set dresser for porn studios, and as a bicycle taxi cab operator.

Leonard’s work is primarily focused in painting, print, and textiles. Opulent pattern and figurative imagery reflect moments of queer and trans community, crusing, and connection.

The work highlighted is a new collaboration with Black culinary historian, multimedia artist, and wild foods enthusiast, lex md. They combined solitary practices by repurposing a picnic basket with handmade textiles that would be filled with foraged, culinary creations. This Picnic Show became a prototype for a collective spirit in refuting capitalism in providing a luxury experience that cannot be purchased and is only available for the people we choose. Labor and attention to the bounty of the land and sea around us becomes political resistance. These aspects of San Francisco nature celebrate our community and find new ways to connect in a hyper-digitalized age, during a global pandemic.

To learn more about Leonard Reidelbach’s work please visit their website and Instagram
Visit the exhibition catalogue

Curator
Kevin B. Chen

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