MIRA LEHR
BURNT OFFERINGS
March 3 - April 16, 2011
BURNT OFFERINGS
March 3 - April 16, 2011
“The Power of Lace,” 2010, Mixed media with gunpowder on canvas, 26 x 72 inches
Press Release:
Mira Lehr’s newest paintings at the Flomenhaft Gallery are a must-see!
Wrote Kelly Grovier, London art critic, “Lehr is not a painter of this world. She achieves her powerful expressionism by summoning it in a process of controlled transcendence. What illuminates the paintings in Burnt Offerings is at once subtler and more unsettling than anything that has come before.”
And renowned art historian, Irving Sandler wrote, "Mira Lehr proves there is a very vital art going on now in Florida. I also am utterly delighted at the beauty and the quality of Mira's work."
Journalist Morley Safer from 60 Minutes wrote to Mira Lehr, “To Describe Mira Lehr’s new paintings and new palette as a ‘blast’ would be way too hokey, but I will anyway. All painters rely at one time or another on so called ‘happy accidents.’ Ms. Lehr has mastered the art of control of these accidents with stunning results.”
And Thom Collins, Director of the Miami Art Museum, wrote, “Burnt Offerings Exhibition--- At this late date, it is almost too much to expect, an experience unexpectedly compelling and new--- catalyzed by a representation of nature; and yet; here is Mira Lehr’s recent work, playful, mysterious and, as it wrests beauty from danger and violence, in the deepest sense, sublime.”
About her most recent works, “Burnt Offerings,” accomplished with the addition of gunpowder, Lehr says, “Fire moves through the images leaving a remnant, a memory of what was once there. It is a phantom; it is there and then not there. My paintings that once focused on the beauty of nature have been transformed from a peaceful environment into something more dynamic, by creating both sides of existence, creation and destruction. “She adds, ‘Fire is a primitive force and I feel an elemental, almost alchemical characteristic when I work with it. Because fire’s unpredictability is like the uncertainty of life, it is like the constant struggle with existence.’”
Lehr’s subtle color harmonies combined with veils of Japanese paper contrast with expressionistic splashes, drips, and fluidity of the grounds. Tensions are balanced between abstraction and illusion, the hidden and the revealed, hard edge and soft focus, and all add to the mystery and resonance of the work.
Mira Lehr’s newest paintings at the Flomenhaft Gallery are a must-see!
Wrote Kelly Grovier, London art critic, “Lehr is not a painter of this world. She achieves her powerful expressionism by summoning it in a process of controlled transcendence. What illuminates the paintings in Burnt Offerings is at once subtler and more unsettling than anything that has come before.”
And renowned art historian, Irving Sandler wrote, "Mira Lehr proves there is a very vital art going on now in Florida. I also am utterly delighted at the beauty and the quality of Mira's work."
Journalist Morley Safer from 60 Minutes wrote to Mira Lehr, “To Describe Mira Lehr’s new paintings and new palette as a ‘blast’ would be way too hokey, but I will anyway. All painters rely at one time or another on so called ‘happy accidents.’ Ms. Lehr has mastered the art of control of these accidents with stunning results.”
And Thom Collins, Director of the Miami Art Museum, wrote, “Burnt Offerings Exhibition--- At this late date, it is almost too much to expect, an experience unexpectedly compelling and new--- catalyzed by a representation of nature; and yet; here is Mira Lehr’s recent work, playful, mysterious and, as it wrests beauty from danger and violence, in the deepest sense, sublime.”
About her most recent works, “Burnt Offerings,” accomplished with the addition of gunpowder, Lehr says, “Fire moves through the images leaving a remnant, a memory of what was once there. It is a phantom; it is there and then not there. My paintings that once focused on the beauty of nature have been transformed from a peaceful environment into something more dynamic, by creating both sides of existence, creation and destruction. “She adds, ‘Fire is a primitive force and I feel an elemental, almost alchemical characteristic when I work with it. Because fire’s unpredictability is like the uncertainty of life, it is like the constant struggle with existence.’”
Lehr’s subtle color harmonies combined with veils of Japanese paper contrast with expressionistic splashes, drips, and fluidity of the grounds. Tensions are balanced between abstraction and illusion, the hidden and the revealed, hard edge and soft focus, and all add to the mystery and resonance of the work.
View Artwork
| burnt_offerings_pr.pdf |