Leenie
Leenie Engel is a lifelong industrial designer and color expert. Educated in fine art and design, experienced in the business of consumer products creation, and a passionate art collector to boot, she has been making art for decades.
Whether creating the freeform portrait of a ballerina's delicate tutu, the precision of a duochrome artwork, or millions of units of kids accessories, Leenie’s unifying skill is color. Considered a sophisticated colorist, her unofficial motto, no detail is too small to obsess over, has served her well in both the commercial and fine art worlds.
She’s also a sharp dresser.
Leenie Engel
Colorboxes:
Combining the style of color field painters Josef Albers, Mark Rothko and Rupprecht Geiger, the geometry of Victor Vasarely, the fluorescence of Dan Flavin, and the precision of Donald Judd, Colorbox Series 2 by Leenie Engel exhibits a controlled geometry combined with an exuberant use of color.
Each Colorbox features two distinctive hues, juxtaposed for maximum impact. The colors were selected and paired to immediately excite the eye, yet over time, the observer will sense the harmony of the relationship between the two disparate tones.
Each artwork’s substrate is created by forming a sheet of cold rolled steel into a five sided box, with hand finished joints and corners. Weighing close to 100 pounds each, the pieces are supported by a cleat device that allows for easy installation and flush wall mounting.
In order to achieve long-lasting, vibrant color rendition, the works feature high quality automotive paint and multiple applications of protective clear-coat resin. Teaming with a master auto restorer and refinisher allows for the same flawless paint application used on custom autos costing well into six figures.
Each Colorbox celebrates the intersection of painting and sculpture, fine craftsmanship, and the artist’s sophisticated love of color.
Colorbox10 – Y/1505, 2019
43 x 52
Automotive paint and clearcoat
on cold rolled steel
$8500
Leenie Engel
Colorbox2 - 306/382, 2019
43 x 52
Automotive paint and clearcoat
on cold rolled steel
$8500
Leenie Engel
Colorbox4 – Y/266, 2019
43 x 52
Automotive paint and clearcoat
on cold rolled steel
$8500
Leenie Engel
Colorbox7 – RR/7, 2019
43 x 52
Automotive paint and clearcoat
on cold rolled steel
$8500
Leenie Engel
The Plié series juxtaposes dancers’ delicate tutus with industrial objects and post-consumer materials.
Each painted image is enhanced with a 3-D assemblage, from glitter to candy, shredded newspaper articles to feathers.
First in the series, Plié #1 focuses on purity of the form, without added embellishment.
Plié #1, 2015
30 x 40
Acrylic on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Plié #2 introduces 3-D texture, by way of feathers and glitter.
Plié #2, 2015 SOLD
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
Leenie Engel
Plié #3 is a true homage to dance, incorporating glitter, and shredded articles from the New York Times Dance section.
Plié #3, 2017
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Plie #4 sees a broadening of embellishment, as the dancer's dress is encrusted with a cornucopia of candies.
Plié #4, 2018
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Plié #5 incorporates woven fabric in a camouflage pattern with nails, screws and washers of copper, brass and nickel.
Plié #5, 2019 SOLD
30 x 40
Mixed media
Leenie Engel
Plie #6's soft, sweet image combines a textured fabric bodice with feminine fabric and felt, as well as hard-edged bits of hardware.
Plié #6, 2020 SOLD
30 x 40
Mixed Media
Leenie Engel
Plie #7 veers further into ambiguity, by adding razor blades, feathers, nails and screws, ball chain and safety pins.
Plié #7, 2020
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Plie #8 - A bodice crafted of hundreds of multicolored buttons is juxtaposed with a graceful, painterly skirt.
Plié #8, 2020
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Plie #9 - Fabric softener sheets, repurposed and dyed, create a voluminous skirt that dominates this iteration of the series
Plié #9, 2021
30 x 40
Mixed Media on Canvas
$1800
Leenie Engel
Clearbox Series 1 by Leenie Engel elevates the status of non-art objects by sculpting them into plexi vitrines. By employing these clear cases, the artist has museum-ized ordinary specimens of everyday life.
When Jeff Koons floated basketballs in glass vitrines, he transformed the mundane object to art object. Damien Hirst’s tiger shark preserved in formaldehyde inside a glass terrarium further expanded the question of ‘what is art?’
In this series, the artist celebrates the beauty of workaday items by the literal showcasing of everyday materials, sealed inside transparent display cases.
Clearbox3, Twisted Sisters, 2019
A deliberate, graceful assemblage of discarded aluminum castoffs adds importance to an otherwise disposable object and makes it precious.
20 x 20 x 60
Found aluminum strapping
$1800
(pedestal and vitrine included)
Leenie Engel
Clearbox2, Two Sides to Every Story, 2019
A deconstructed, painted canvas allows the viewer to rethink long-held norms about the ways art is displayed.
20 x 20 x 60
Webbing tape and acrylic paint on 30 square feet of canvas
$2400
(pedestal and vitrine included)
Leenie Engel
Clearbox1, Bent Benz, 2019
A disused automobile windshield has been rolled, folded and bound with copper wire, creating an object with far less utility and far greater beauty than it had in its first incarnation.
20 x 20 x 60
Automotive windshield and copper wire
$1800
(pedestal and vitrine included)
- Rio 3. 2012
30 x 30
Acrylic on canvas
$1800
- Rio 4, 2008
24 x 36
Acrylic on canvas
$1800
- Rio 19, 2020
30 x 40
Acrylic on canvas
$1800
- Rio 20, 2016
24 x 30
Acrylic on canvas
$1800
- Rio 10-11-12, Triptych, 2020
Each canvas 12 x 12 Acrylic on canvas
$750
- Rio 13-14-15, Triptych, 2020
Each canvas 12 x 12 Acrylic on canvas
$750
- Rio 16-17-18, Triptych, 2020
Each canvas 12 x 12 Acrylic on canvas
$750