Working with photography, archives, film and text, the focus of Ledare’s practice lies in an investigation of how we are formed as subjects, not merely at the level of identity but at the level of our projected desires, motivations and aspirations. These inter-relational drives often impose irreconcilable demands on the individual. His work explores this position of ambivalence as it relates to agency, representation, self-presentation, and issues produced by the enactment of this work in the context of the real world.
Born in Seattle, Washington in 1976, Leigh Ledare received his MFA from Columbia University in 2008. He is currently included in the group exhibition Give Me Yesterday at Fondazione Prada Osservatorio, Milan. Recent solo exhibitions include: The Box Gallery, Los Angeles (2016); place du jar din aux fleurs, Office Baroque, Brussels (2016); Double Bind, Art Unlimited, curated by Gianni Jetzer, Basel (2015); Ana and Carl, and Some Other Couples (with Nic Guagnini), Max Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf (2014); Leigh Ledare, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York (2014); Leigh Ledare et al, Kunsthal Charlottenborg (2013); Leigh Ledare et al, WIELS, Brussels, (2012); Leigh Ledare, The Box, Los Angles (2012); An Invitation Pilar Corrias, London (2012); The Confectioner’s Confectioner, Pilar Corrias, London (2010); Double Bind, The Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; Pretend You’re Actually Alive, Les Rencontres de Arles, Arles (2009); Leigh Ledare, Swiss Institute New York (2009); Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin (2008); International Center of Photography, New York (2008); You Are Nothing To ME. You Are Like Air, Rivington Arms Gallery (2008). Group exhibitions include: un certain regard, Dürst Britt & Mayhew in the Hague (2016); Private Exposure, me Collectors Room Berlin / Foundation Olbricht, Berlin (2016); Bread and Roses, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2016); Between Enpowerment and Crisis: Images of Motherhood from 1900 to Today, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz (2015); Love, Nymphius Projekte, Berlin (2015); Chercher le garcon, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine (2015); Sexe, Beatitude et Logique Compatable [Sex, beatitude and accounting logic], Michèle Didier Gallery, Paris (2015); Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks, Fox Reading Room, Institute of Contemporary Art, London (2014); Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood, The Photographer’s Gallery, London (2013); Lips Painted Red, Trondheim Kunstmuseum (2013); Collaborations & Interventions, CCA Andratx, Mallorca, Spain (2012); How Soon is Now, The Garage CCC, Moscow Russia, Curated by Beatrix Ruf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tom Eccles, Liam Gillick, Philippe Parreno (2010); Greater New York 2010, curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Neville Wakefield and Connie Butler, P.S. 1 MoMA, New York (2010);Prague Biennale (2009)
Born 1976 in Seattle, United States
Lives and works in New York
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
The Plot, The Museum of the Arts Institute of Chicago, Chicago – US
VOKZAL, The BOX Gallery, Los Angeles – US
2016
place du jardin aux fleurs, Office Baroque, Brussels – BE
2015
Double Bind, Art Unlimited, curated by Gianni Jetzer, Basel – CH
2014
Ana and Carl, and Some Other Couples (with Nic Guagnini), Max Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf – DE
Leigh Ledare, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York – US
Ana and Carl, and Some Other Couples (with Nic Guagnini), Andrew Roth, New York – US
2013
Leigh Ledare et al, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen – DE
An Invitation, Reception, Berlin – DE
2012
Leigh Ledare et al, WIELS, curated by Elena Filipovich – BE
Double Bind Publication, Michele Didier, Paris – FR
An Invitation, Pilar Corrias, London – UK
Leigh Ledare, The Box, Los Angeles – US
2011
Something Might Have Been Better than Nothing… (with Per Billgren), Reception, Berlin – DE
2010
Double Bind, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow – RU
Double Bind, Prix Decouvert, Les Rencontres d’Arles (curated by Beatrix Ruf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tom Eccles, Philippe Parreno & Liam Gillick), Arles – FR
The Confectioner’s Confectioner, Pilar Corrias, London – UK
Too Late and Later, Rod Bianco Gallery, Oslo – NO
Le Tit, Guido Costa Projects, Turin – IT
2009
Leigh Ledare, Les Rencontres de Arles, Arles – FR
2008
You Are Nothing To Me. You Are Like Air, Rivington Arms, New York – US
Pretend You’re Actually Alive, Andrew Roth Gallery, New York – US
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Vocales, CAC Bretigny, Bretigny-sur-Orge – FR
Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York – US
2016
Give Me Yesterday, Fondazione Prada Osservatorio, Milan – IT
Shame- 100 Reasons to Turn Red, Deutsches Hygiene Museum Dresden, Dresden – DE
Invisible Adversaries, The Hessel Museum of Art, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson – US
Private Exposure, me Collectors Room Berlin / Foundation Olbricht, Berlin – DE
Bread and Roses, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw – PL
Un certain regard, Dürst Britt & Mayhew, The Hague – NL
2015
Between Enpowerment and Crisis: Images of Motherhood from 1900 to Today, LENTOS Kunstmuseum Linz – AT
Love, Nymphius Projekte, Berlin – DE
The School of Kyiv, Kiv Biennial 2015, Kyiv – UA
Chercher le garcon, Musée d’art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine – FR
Sexe, Beatitude et Logique Compatable [Sex, beatitude and accounting logic], Michèle Didier Gallery, Paris – FR
Sitter, Columbus College of Art and Design’s Canzani Center Gallery, Columbus – US
2014
It Happens Without You, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow – UK
Copy Show, Andrew Roth Gallery, New York – US
La vie domestique, Parc Saint Léger, Pougues-les-Eaux – FR
Nuit Américaine, Office Baroque, Brussels – BE
Walk-ins Welcome, Malborough Chelsea, New York – US
Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks, Fox Reading Room, Institute of Contemporary Art, London – UK
Ana and Carl, and some other couples (with Nic Guagnini), Max Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf – DE
Simulacrum (with Pierre Klossowski, Dan Graham and others), Galerie Max Mayer, Düsseldorf – DE
Bad Conscience, Metro Pictures, curated by John Miller, New York – US
Ana and Carl, and some other couples (with Nic Guagnini), Andrew Roth Gallery, New York – US
2013
Home Truths: Photography and Motherhood, The Photographer’s Gallery London (curated by Susan Bright), London – UK
Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks. New York Artist’s Book Fair, PS1/MoMA – US
5th Moscow Bienniale, Special Project curated by Ami Barak, Pomeranz Collection, Moscow – RU
News/Prints: Printmaking & The Newspaper, International Print Center, New York – US
9 Ways to Say its Over, Farringdon Street, (curated by Natasha Cox and Keira Greene), London – UK
Revelations, Stonescape, curated by Thea Westreich and Susan Modica, Calistoga, CA – US
Museum of Modern Art and Western Antiquities: Lens Drawings, Marian Goodman Gallery, curated by Jens Hoffman, Paris – FR
Lips Painted Red, Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Trondheim – NO
Secession Secession, Fitzroy Gallery, New York – US
Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks, Andrew Roth Gallery, New York – US
Nevermore, On Stellar Rays, New York – US
2012
The Hidden Mother, Hotel Particulier de B. Morisot, curated by Sinziana Ravini, Paris – FR
Privacy, Schirn Kunsthalle, curated by Dr. Martina Weinhart, Frankfurt – DE
Collaborations & Interventions, CCA Andratx – Kunsthalle (curated by Friederike Nymphius), Majorca – ES
Take Off Your Silver Spurs and Help Me Pass The Time, Galerie Nikolaus Ruzicska, curated by Gerold Miller, Salzburg – AT
Fremde Überall – Foreigners Everywhere: Selected works from the Pomeranz Collection, Jewish Museum (curated by Ami Barak), Vienna – AT
Desire, Bergen Museum of Art, Bergen – NO
Americans in New York 2, Galerie Michel Rein, curated by Ami Barak, Paris – FR
2011
Reprise, Rutgers University, Piscataway Township, NJ – US
Sex Drive, Cantor Fitzgerald Gallery, curated by Stuart Horodner, Haverford; Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta – US
Martin Parr’s Best Books of the Decade, National Photographic Archive, Dublin – IE
A Hole is To Dig, Office Baroque, Antwerp – BE
Cult of the Ruin: Strategies of Accumulation, UC Irvine, Irvine, California – US
LAXART Curator’s Choice Video Show, LAXART, Los Angeles – US
Home videos, Leigh Ledare and Kenneth Tam, Loisaida, New York – US
2010
How Soon Is Now, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture (curated by Beatrix Ruf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tom Eccles, Liam Gillick & Philippe Parreno), Moscow- RU
Which Witch is Which?, White Flag Projects (curated by Ajay Kurian), St. Lois – US
Luma Discovery Award, Les Rencontres d’Arles, (curated by Beatrix Ruf, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tom Eccles, Liam Gillick & Philippe Parreno), Arles – FR
Greater New York 2010, MoMA / PS1 (curated by Klaus Biesenbach, Neville Wakefield and Connie Butler), New York – US
They Have Not the Art to Argue with Pictures: Robert Heinecken, Erik Frydenborg, Nicolás Guagnini, Wade Guyton, Leigh Ledare, Amanda Ross-Ho, Collier Schorr, Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles – US
So Be It: Interventions in Printed Matter, Andrew Roth Gallery, New York – US
Support Group, Thomas Solomon Gallery, Los Angeles – US
Screening, Berkeley Museum of Art, Berkeley – US
2009
Dance, Sons and Daughters, Dance! The Physics Room, Christchurch – NZ
Selected Works, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (curated by Laurie Simmons), New York – US
Prague Biennale 4, Prague – CZ
Re-Gift, Swiss Institute (curated by John Miller), New York – US
House Call, Three’s Company, New York – US
Ca Me Touche, Les Rencontres de Arles (curated by Nan Goldin), Arles – FR
N-1, Patino Foundation (curated by Gandalf Gavan), Santa Cruz – BO
I’m So Sad, My God, ISCP International Studio & Curatorial Program (curated by Martha Kirzenbaum), New York – US
2008
Freeway Balconies, Deutsche Guggenheim (curated by Collier Schorr), Berlin – DE
Open Secret, International Center of Photography, New York – US
Swiss Institute benefit auction, Swiss Institute, New York – US
Colette, Paris – FR
Closer Now, Rivington Arms, New York – US
Foundation for Contemporary Art, Benefit Auction, Cohan and Leslie, New York – US
Columbia University MFA Thesis Show, New York – US
EPTSOLP, Small a Projects (curated by Chris Johanson), Portland – US
Blindspot Benefit Auction, David Zwirner Gallery, New York – US
Kevin Zucker, Sentimental Education, (contributor), 11 Rivington, New York – US
2007
Leigh Ledare, Ari Marcopoulos and JH Engstrom, Cohan and Leslie, New York – US
Stalemate, Curator, Leroy Neiman Gallery, Columbia University, New York – US
The Dating Show, ISE Foundation, New York – US
CRG, Open Video Series, New York – US
Artists’ Books: Transgression/Excess, Space Other, Boston – US
Ego, Jail Gallery, Los Angeles – US
EDUCATION
2008
Columbia University, MFA
2000
Rhode Island School of Design, BFA
1994-1997
University of Washington
AWARDS, GRANTS AND RESIDENCIES
2013
New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship Award
2009
Jerome Foundation Travel Grant
2008
Feldman travel grant, Columbia University
2008
Columbia University Fellowship, Co-curator of the Visiting Artist Lecture Series
Fischer-Landau Fellowship
2005
Bakery Artist in Residence, Portland, Maine
2003
Dactyl Foundation for the Arts Working Grant
2000
Harry Koregian Memorial Scholarship
LEIGH LEDARE, THE PLOT AT ART INSTITUTE CHICAGO
Art Institute of Chicago 111 S Michigan Avenue Chicago, IL 60603 Leigh Ledare (American, born 1976) pushes social systems to lay bare their underlying structures. His projects, which often rely on the enactment of complex social situations, are fundamentally collaborative; … More
Leigh Ledare and Tala Madani—Whitney Biennial 2017
The formation of self and the individual’s place in a turbulent society are among the key themes reflected in the work of the artists selected for the 2017 Whitney Biennial. The exhibition includes sixty-three participants, ranging from emerging to well-established … More
Leigh Ledare screening at the Swiss Institute of Contemporary Art, New York
Leigh Ledare’s The Here and the Now (Zurich 1:1) In conjunction with Against the Romance of Community, please join us for a screening of Leigh Ledare’s The Here and the Now (Zurich 1:1). Ledare will introduce the work, as well as answer questions immediately following. In the second half of the twentieth … More
Leigh Ledare at Manifesta 11 “What People Do for Money: Some Joint Ventures”, Zurich
Leigh Ledare set up a three-day immersive group situation, replicating the improvisational approach of a school of group psychology, Tavistock. He chose twenty-one participants on the basis of family, gender, race, class, shared origin or experience. Collectively, the participants and … More
“Invisible Adversaries”—Marieluise Hessel Collection at Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson
The Hessel Museum of Art marks its tenth anniversary with a major exhibition of works from the Marieluise Hessel Collection curated by Lauren Cornell and Tom Eccles entitled “Invisible Adversaries”. The exhibition is inspired by the eponymous 1976 feature film … More
Leigh Ledare at Dürst Britt & Mayhew, The Hague
Dürst Britt & Mayhew is proud to present the international group exhibition Un certain regard. The French term ‘un certain regard’ can actually and ironically enough be described as a look or glance that is hard to describe. In its … More
Leigh Ledare at ICA, London
Leigh Ledare is a featured artist in the group exhibition, Paperwork: A Brief History of Artists’ Scrapbooks, hosted by the Institue of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, in the institution’s Fox Reading Room. This presentation explores how contemporary artists have used the … More
Leigh Ledare at The Photographers’ Gallery, London
Leigh Ledare is included in The Photographers’ Gallery forthcoming exhibition Home Truths: Photography, Motherhood and Identity, curated by Susan Bright. The exhibition will explore representations of motherhood through the works of eight contemporary artists and aim to challenge long-held stereotypes and sentimental … More
Leigh Ledare at 9 Ways to Say it’s Over, London
A series of film screenings have been developed to run alongside the exhibition, 9 Ways to Say it’s Over at 20 Farringdon Street. Chosen by three of the 9 Ways to Say its Over contributing artists. Each film will contextualise … More
Leigh Ledare at Farringdon Street, London
Leigh Ledare is included in the exhibition 9 Ways to Say it’s Over, curated by Natasha Cox and Keira Greene. The exhibition looks to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s description of the decisive moment: that precise instant in which an image is captured … More
Leigh Ledare at Trondheim Kunstmuseum, Norway
Leigh Leadare is participating in Lips Painted Red, the Trondheim Kunstmuseum’s extensive thematic exhibition held this summer, curated by TKM Director Pontus Kyander. Lips Painted Red is a project examining how female identities are created and maintained as daily routines, … More
Leigh Ledare, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Copenhagen
Leigh Ledare’s exhibition Leigh Ledare, et.al will open at Kunsthal Charlottenborg on 18 January 2013. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition in Scandinavia. The exhibition was organised by WIELS Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels in collaboration with Kunsthal Charlottenborg. The … More
Leigh Ledare’s solo exhibition at WIELS, Brussels
Leigh Ledare, et al. curated by Elena Filipovic is Leigh Ledare’s first major institutional solo show. Presenting over 100 works, the exhibition is a comprehensive retrospective of the artist’s career to date. A catalogue has been published by WIELS and … More
Leigh Ledare at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Germany
Leigh Ledare will take part in the group show Privacy curated by Dr. Martina Weinhart at the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt. The exhibition will investigate the public representations of the intimate. Participating artists include: Ai Weiwei, Merry Alpern, Michel Auder, Evan … More
Leigh Ledare at CCA Andratx
Collaborations & Interventions is an international group show developed especially for Kunsthalle Andratx. The show will explore different types of collaboration and intervention by about 40 international artists and groups from the late 60’s to the present. Since the mid-60s … More
Leigh Ledare at Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow
Leigh Ledare is one of fifteen artists selected for the first group exhibition on photograph at the Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. The group exhibition will showcase a broad curatorial perspective of international contemporary photography How Soon is Now … More
Leigh Ledare: Place du jardin aux fleurs, ArtReview, Vol. 69, No. 2, March 2017, p. 98 (Download PDF)
Leigh Ledare, “Le Tit”, METAL Magazine issue 33, spring / summer 2015 (Download PDF)
Kathy Noble, “The Art of Ambiguity,” Tate Etc., Issue 30, Spring 2014 (Download PDF)
Robert Ayers, “Unmanageable identity in the work of Leigh Ledare,” Eikon, Issue 83, February 2014 (Download PDF)
Frieze, November-December, 2012 (Download PDF)
10 Magazine, issue 25, Spring summer 2011 (Download PDF)
Kaleidoscope, issue 10, spring 2011 (Download PDF)
Modern Painters, February 2011 (Download PDF)
Leigh Ledare ‘An Invitation’
Pilar Corrias Gallery is proud to present ‘An Invitation’: an exhibition of new works by the American artist Leigh Ledare. Working with photography, archives, film and text, the focus of Ledare’s practice lies in an investigation of how we are … More
Leigh Ledare’The Confectioner’s Confectioner’
Pilar Corrias Gallery is delighted to present The Confectioner’s Confectioner, an exhibition of new work by Leigh Ledare. Leigh Ledare is an artist working with photography, archives, video and text. Ledare’s first solo show at the gallery centres around a … More