In an effort to find comfort and connectedness through art, architecture and design, Culver City’s Artist Laureate Alexey Steele helped us launch our year-long grant program, Projecting Possibilities, during the pandemic in 2020. This resiliency program offered artists a way to showcase their work and cultivate creativity during a time of grief and uncertainty, creating a restorative link between art and soul.
We now find ourselves in the middle of a global crisis and war, so we again turn to Alexey for his help. With his generosity, we proudly begin Projecting for Peace, a series of images taken from the artwork of Leonid Steele, Alexey’s father, completed during his rich artistic life spent in Ukraine. Leonid Steele (1921 – 2014) is an important Soviet Artist of the Socialist Realism School, known as “Socrealizm”. Leonid was a survivor, one who believed all his life in two things – Peace and People. His art is embedded with these principals as seen in these amazing and powerful portraits, a deeply humanistic expression of Ukrainian people. Leonid Steele’s iconic works now serve as an anthem to the people he knew so well, loved so much, and portrayed so compellingly.
The program kicks off on Sunday March 6th through March 31st with a powerful installation of art by Leonid Steele. Leonid’s paintings may be viewed from sunset until 2:00 am on the entrance of the Helms Design Center at 8745 Washington Boulevard, projecting out for street-side viewing. We will provide ongoing updates with ways you can help the people of Ukraine.
#PeaceForUkraine
Above: Leonid Steele, The Land, 1968
The next series of images come from our partner Olga Severina, founder of PosterTerritory.