Diego Leclery: One With Everything

Diego Leclery’s work does not fit neatly into a narrow definition of conceptual art or performance. Instead, he has chosen a track that requires him to be constantly engaged in any project; be it a years-long comic strip on his website that can’t find an ending, an annual holiday tradition of dressing up as a polar bear for Chicago art spaces every year, or his endurance of playing the video game Civilization for the entire run of the 2014 Whitney Biennial.

His work relates to the physical connotation of striving to reach a perceptively impossible goal. Leclery’s task for One With Everything is an attempt to take on every conceivable art practice in a year’s amount of time. Through the accumulation of these small actions, Leclery strengthens the argument against an artist leaving a material body of work as a legacy and reinforces the will to be present with every passing moment.

The theme of World Record suits Leclery’s views on determination through art and the necessity of photography to document lived experiences. This endless task requires an exposure of the artist’s condition as he manages to integrate art into his everyday life of family, work, and leisure.

Curator: Eli Walker