Exhibitions › Linden New Art › Leeroy New

leeroy new

Polyp

Exhibition Dates

15 November 2025 > 8 February 2026

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Visual Rating 100%

Quiet Space Available

Leeroy New is a Filipino artist-designer whose work spans film, theatre, fashion and public art. Known for large-scale installations made from found materials, his practice explores ecological heritage, urban space, and the possibilities of a speculative future.

Polyp, his work for Linden, engages with the façade of the building, and our location by the bay. The structure wraps itself around the balcony of the building, like a large octopus tentacle. Covering the structure are coral and barnacle -like structures; life from deep in the sea, resonating with the Coral Futures exhibition on display inside the gallery.

The work is made of bamboo and PET plastic bottles, which will be recycled at the end of the work’s life. They are also materials used in the Philippines for decorations during festivals and provincial celebration, as such the work responds to a local vernacular for the artist.

Planted at the base of the sculpture is pumpkin, cucumber and beans. These fast-growing plants will crawl through and take over the structure over the next three months. A new methodology for the artist, it speaks to the power and resilience of nature in the face of the constructed world. It also activates the sculpture as a living organism.

The project was supported by a Cultural Development Fund Grant from the City of Port Phillip.

Leeroy New, Mebuyan’s Colony, 2024, Installation with steel, bamboo, plastic, and household items. Courtesy of Lahore Biennale Foundation.

Chrysalis Vessel, Paoay Sandunes, 2014. Courtesy of the artist.

Leeroy New, Polyp (Boracay), 2015. Courtesy of the artist & APEC (applied power electronics conference).

Leeroy New, Balete, 2022, installation view, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, rīvus; bamboo, water containers, PET bottles, twine, bicycle wheel frames, ribbons, other found objects. Courtesy of the artist & the Biennale of Sydney. Photography: Document Photography.

Leeroy New constructing Balete Spacecraft at Aviva Studios for The Welcome, 2023. Photograph: James Speakman.

Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila 002. Courtesy of the artist.

Leeroy New began his career producing small resin sculptures inspired by science fiction. His practice shifted dramatically in 2008 when he was invited to the Singapore Biennale, where he created his first large-scale, site-specific installation. Teratoma II: War of the Worlds, a 5-metre-tall sculpture suspended from the roof of Singapore’s City Hall, appeared to grow out of the wall, giving the impression of a building losing all sense of its classical proportions.

In 2009 New moved away from resin and fibreglass, turning instead to found objects sourced directly from his immediate surroundings. This shift began during a residency in Bendigo, where piles of discarded irrigation hoses in local recycling centres sparked an experiment that reshaped his approach.

More recently, New has adopted bamboo and PET plastic bottles as primary materials for large installations, studio works and wearable pieces. These materials connect to a distinctly local visual language, echoing the makeshift decorations common across the Philippines, where plastic bottles and wrappers are widely repurposed for festivals. Their use also highlights the environmental burden borne by developing nations like the Philippines, which have become dumping grounds for plastic waste from wealthier countries.

In 2016, New collaborated with urban designer Julia Nebrija to create Bakawan, a floating performance space and garden that travelled along Manila’s central and most polluted waterway, the Pasig River. The project marked an early step in reimagining the river as public space, transport route and ecological corridor through creative intervention.

New’s commitment to ambitious, site-responsive sculptural environments has since become central to his practice. Over the past 15 years, his works have been commissioned and exhibited internationally, including at the Lahore Biennale (2024), Aviva Studios, Manchester (2023), Sydney Biennale (2022), Somerset House, London (2022), Wonderfruit Festival, Thailand (2017), Fukuoka Asian Art Triennale (2009) and the Singapore Biennale (2008).

IMAGES > (top slider) Leeroy New, Polyp, 2025, mixed media, installation view. Photograph: Simon Strong. > Leeroy New, Mebuyan’s Colony, 2024, Installation with steel, bamboo, plastic, and household items. Courtesy of Lahore Biennale Foundation. > Leeroy New, Chrysalis Vessel, Paoay Sandunes, 2014. Courtesy of the artist. > Leeroy New, Polyp (Boracay), 2015. Courtesy of the artist & APEC (applied power electronics conference). > Leeroy New, Balete, 2022, installation view, 23rd Biennale of Sydney, rīvus; bamboo, water containers, PET bottles, twine, bicycle wheel frames, ribbons, other found objects. Courtesy of the artist & the Biennale of Sydney. Photography: Document Photography. > Leeroy New constructing Balete Spacecraft at Aviva Studios for The Welcome, 2023. Photograph: James Speakman. > Leeroy New, Aliens of Manila 002. Courtesy of the artist.