Shaun Leonardo: Intersections of Identity and Performance

🌍 Origins and Influences

Shaun El C. Leonardo, an American artist and performer, is recognized for his profound examination of the intricate relationships between masculinity, sports, race, and cultural identity.^[1] Born and raised in Queens, New York, Leonardo's heritage is a significant influence, with his mother hailing from the Dominican Republic and his father from Guatemala. This bicultural background shaped his early perspectives, leading him to seek role models within popular culture during his upbringing.^[2]

🎓 Academic Foundation

Leonardo pursued his undergraduate studies at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Visual Arts with a focus on painting. During his time at Bowdoin, he was also an active participant in American football.^[4][5] He further honed his artistic skills at the San Francisco Art Institute, completing his Master of Fine Arts in Painting in 2005.^[3][6]

🤼 El Conquistador vs. The Invisible Man (2004-2007)

Between 2004 and 2007, Leonardo developed a series of performances where he adopted the persona of El Conquistador, also known as El C., a Luchador. In this alter ego, he engaged in a continuous battle against a fictional, unseen adversary, The Invisible Man—a direct reference to Ralph Ellison's seminal 1952 novel exploring race and identity. Performed before live audiences, this work confronted the "struggle against physical and metaphorical invisibility in society, and with the complexities of hyper-masculine identity in Latino culture."^[7]

🗣️ "I Can't Breathe" Series (2015-Present)

Initiated in 2015, Leonardo's "I Can't Breathe" series emerged as a direct response to the death of Eric Garner and the subsequent non-indictment of the police officer involved. These performances function as both self-defense workshops and public, participatory events. Leonardo guides the audience through a series of four defensive maneuvers, culminating in the demonstration of a chokehold—the same technique that tragically claimed Eric Garner's life.^[9]

🐂 Bull in the Ring (2008)

In his 2008 installation and performance piece, Bull in the Ring, Leonardo collaborated with ten semi-professional football players. They reenacted the Bull in the Ring training routine, a practice historically banned from American high school and collegiate football. The routine involves players forming a circle around a central individual, the "matador," who must withstand charges and blows from randomly selected players. Leonardo, who had practiced this routine since age twelve, utilized the performance to explore the pressures young men face regarding conformity and the demonstration of toughness.^[12]

💃 Taxi Dance (Brooklyn Museum)

At the Brooklyn Museum, Leonardo staged an event titled Taxi Dance, inspired by 1920s popular nightclub events where men paid women for dances. Inverting traditional gender roles, Leonardo's iteration invited participants to pay men for dances, playfully challenging societal norms and expectations surrounding gender and interaction.^[10][11]

• ^ ^{a b} Landi, Ann (January 2009). "WRESTLING WITH MASCULINITY" (PDF). ARTnews Magazine.
• ^ ^{a b} Williams, Chinon (October 22, 2010). "SHAUN EL C. LEONARDO'S \"DEATH OF A KING\"". PAPER Magazine.
• ^ ^{a b c d} "Shaun Leonardo". Shaun Leonardo. Retrieved April 27, 2016.
• ^ ^{a b} Bowers, Ben (December 6, 2013). "WHAT IS THE MEASURE OF A MAN? AND CAN WE EVER MEET IT? 30 Minutes With: Shaun El C. Leonardo". Gear Patrol Magazine.
• ^ "Shaun El C. Leonardo '01 brings Bowdoin Football to the LA County Museum of Art". Bowdoin.
• ^ ^{a b c} "Studio Visit: Shaun Leonardo". MoMA PS1. 2014.
• ^ ^{a b} "Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art". The Studio Museum in Harlem, and GREY ART Gallery NYU.
• ^ "Ralph Ellison: No Longer The 'Invisible Man' 100 Years After His Birth". NPR.
• ^ ^{a b} Kuennen, Joel (October 8, 2015). "I Tell You What Freedom Is to Me: No Fear" (PDF). Art Slant Magazine.
• ^ Schjeldahl, Peter (October 20, 2014). "Local Heroes". New Yorker Magazine.
• ^ "Shaun Leonardo: Taxie Dance". Brooklyn Museum.
• ^ Lee, Sasha (October 19, 2008). "Shaun Leonardo @ LACMA" (PDF). Beautiful Decay Magazine.
• ^ Dawson, Jessica (August 11, 2015). "Between History and the Body' Is a Damned Good Summer Art Show". The Village Voice Newspaper.
• ^ Luks, Joel (December 11, 2012). "New music in a different arena: A violent brawl that radically questions hyper-masculinity" (PDF). Culture Map Houston.
• ^ "moCa's Apology to Artist Shaun Leonardo | MOCA Cleveland". www.mocacleveland.org. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
• ^ Boucher, Brian (June 9, 2020). "A Museum Canceled a Show About Police Brutality. Here's the Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
• ^ Boucher, Brian (June 19, 2020). "MoCA Cleveland Director Resigns After Canceling Show on Police Brutality". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved June 21, 2020.

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