Leonardo Drew’s first public art project, City in the Grass, presents a topographical view of a cityscape atop a patterned panorama. The installation extends over 100 feet long with a richly textured, vibrantly colored surface. Drew’s goal is to bring people into and onto the work, to study its swells and folds, and locate a personal and physical place within purposeful voids. The artist offers the metaphor of an undulating torn carpet as a complicated reference to home, comfort, and sanctuary. Viewers can look onto City in the Grass as if they are giants assessing a terrain and can embed themselves within the fabric of the sculpture.

Drew layers materials, drawing on his signature techniques of assemblage and additive collage. At various points, the sprawling work crescendos into three rising towers. These sculptures grow in and around a patterned surface made of colorful sand that mimics Persian carpet design and reflects the artist’s interest in East Asian decorative traditions and global design more broadly. Bringing together domestic and urban motifs, City in the Grass invites all visitors to walk on and rest on its surface, creating a community within a public oasis. His work addresses formal and social issues.