Zachary Leener's ceramic sculptures communicate through an idiosyncratic vocabulary of forms, at once architectural and figurative, with allusions both ancient and futuristic. The forms slowly emerge and evolve through a diaristic sketching process akin to focused meditation. The sculptures materialize as a group, representing a ritualistic effort that explores the myriad permutations of elemental shapes and structures. As curator Dan Nadel notes, Leener’s work "embraces metaphorical and spiritual ideas of worldbuilding and creation….We are invited to imagine the world that birthed these shapes, patterns, and forms, and the idea-space from which these configurations might have emerged." Recent works incorporate nontraditional material such as fluxed currency, antique glass, ash and hair into the glaze, yielding an irreproducible effect after dozens of passages through the kiln.

Zachary Leener (b. 1981 in Los Angeles, CA) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Solo and two-person exhibitions include Clock, go inside a stone, Derek Eller Gallery, New York, NY (2023), Parker Gallery, Los Angeles (2021), Shekhinah, Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, NY (2020), Family Practice, Cooper Cole, Toronto, Canada (2019), and Zachary Leener: Three Sculptures, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, Davis, CA (2019). Select group exhibitions include Soft Corners, Richard Telles Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA (2018), Softcore, South Willard, Los Angeles, CA (2018), Of a well-sucked apricot pit, Tif Sigfrids, Los Angeles, CA (2017), and Build Your Own House, Dio Horia, Mykonos, Greece (2017). He received his MFA from University of California, Riverside and his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art.