Todd Lehman: Ancient Silence No. 3 / Walter Wickiser Gallery: The New Abstractionists II: Opening Reception / 20100130.7D.02451.P1.CC / SML
Todd Lehman
Ancient Silence No. 3
Oil on paper
21" x 17", 2009
Todd Lehman – Artist Statement
Nineteenth-century English critic Walter Pater said that all art aspires to be music. More recently, in a ''New York Times'' interview, Spanish painter Antoni Tapies said, "One should compare modern art to music." Who can argue with that? Abstract painting then is about visual noise and energy-and about the beauty of silence-all of which are certainly related to music.
While I sometimes work on large canvases, I prefer the hard surface of paper and often collage newspaper or various handmade papers, including rice papers, into a painting. Tools? Brushes, of course, but also a variety of scraping and scratching tools.
What inspires my paintings? Two things-landscape and architecture. Well, maybe three things. The energy of New York City is inescapable. We New Yorkers are addicted to the visual noise and drive of the city, but for obvious reasons we relish moments of solitude and meditation. So my paintings are sometimes like a raucous traffic jam, other times like the quiet of a leaf falling in a Japanese garden. They are the pages of a visual autobiography.
www.conradwildegallery.com/lehman_hiFiber.html
Todd Lehman: Ancient Silence No. 3 / Walter Wickiser Gallery: The New Abstractionists II: Opening Reception / 20100130.7D.02451.P1.CC / SML
Todd Lehman
Ancient Silence No. 3
Oil on paper
21" x 17", 2009
Todd Lehman – Artist Statement
Nineteenth-century English critic Walter Pater said that all art aspires to be music. More recently, in a ''New York Times'' interview, Spanish painter Antoni Tapies said, "One should compare modern art to music." Who can argue with that? Abstract painting then is about visual noise and energy-and about the beauty of silence-all of which are certainly related to music.
While I sometimes work on large canvases, I prefer the hard surface of paper and often collage newspaper or various handmade papers, including rice papers, into a painting. Tools? Brushes, of course, but also a variety of scraping and scratching tools.
What inspires my paintings? Two things-landscape and architecture. Well, maybe three things. The energy of New York City is inescapable. We New Yorkers are addicted to the visual noise and drive of the city, but for obvious reasons we relish moments of solitude and meditation. So my paintings are sometimes like a raucous traffic jam, other times like the quiet of a leaf falling in a Japanese garden. They are the pages of a visual autobiography.
www.conradwildegallery.com/lehman_hiFiber.html