Mira Lehr

Gallery Affiliations: Flomenhaft Gallery, Kelley Roy Gallery, Holly Hunt, Elaine Baker Gallery, Sanford Smith Fine Art

Region: South

The canvas is a place of discovery for me. I juxtapose various elements such as the figurative with the abstract, the spontaneous with the formal, and the past with the present to create a balance that is both spiritual and visual.

Recurring elements of orbs, squares, bellflowers imply landscape as well as abstraction, and the symbolism of the moon lends mystery. The moon is associated with unseen forces. It controls the tides, it is hidden and both magic and madness are thought to result from it.

Like nature, my work is about color, energy, light and shadow. My collaboration with the great landscape architect, Dan Kiley, inspired my use of grids and squares within the nature based imagery.

The lessons of Hans Hofmann and Robert Motherwell have also helped me to find a middle ground between control and abandon. Although intuition and chance do play a large role in my work, an essential part of my work is more thought out than the traditional notion of gesture painting.

A meditative quality and a sense of quiet are common responses to my work, the Eastern look adds to this impression. In a world so bombarded with visual stimuli and fragmentation, this quiet is an essential feature.