Amy Mulvihill, The Litchfield County Times, Mystic Realms,
Friday, April 9, 2004
Sandra Lerner: Mystic Realms
SHERMAN—Abstract artist and part-time Sherman resident,
Sandra Lerner, says the works in her latest show were inspired
by the twin muses of string theory and Sherman, Connecticut.
If you had a dime for every time your heard that one, right?
Cutting-Edge Theory
While some might be startled at such a strange juxtaposition
of inspirations—string theory being the cutting-edge theory
that everything in the universe is made up of vibrating, sub-atomic,
string-like particles and Sherman, Connecticut being, well,
Sherman Connecticut—Ms. Lerner sees nothing strange about
it. In fact, according to her, it’s not an unlikely pairing
at all.
“It’s all about nature and how I feel about relating
to the universe,” Ms. Lerner says about her artwork, which
is on display in a show entitled “Mystical Realms”
through April 20 at the June Kelly Gallery in Manhattan.
And of course, she adds, her interest in string theory and
her Candlewood lakeside home in Sherman inform that relationship.
“From an intellectual point of view, an emotional point
of view and a mystical point of view [string theory] is something
that really grabs my imagination,” Ms. Lerner says, referencing
aspects of the theory that assert the existence of 11 dimensions
rather than the concept of four.
“I’ve always felt that we have powers that go beyond
the senses that we use in everyday life. I feel that there is
another level that we are a part of,” she states.
Ms. Lerner notes that this belief led her to study Eastern
philosophies like Buddhism for much of her life but with the
advances in particle physics and cosmology over the past few
decades, science has ventured into territory usually reserved
for religion and philosophy and Ms. Lerner has eagerly followed.
“Combining the science and the spiritual is really just
me saying they’re one and the same,” she acknowledges.
This ethos is evident in her work which incorporates Rothko-esque
color fields with calligraphic and architectonic iconography
and texture-filled layers to achieve an effect that suggests
the mystical, the religious, the secular and the infinite all
in one.
For Ms. Lerner however, string theory isn’t her only access
to these ideas and the emotions they create. Sherman stirs similar
metaphysical impulses.
Ms. Lerner and her husband, retired pathologist Kurt Gerstmann,
settled in Sherman in 1991 after visiting some friends who had
recently bought a house on Candlewood Lake. Ms. Lerner says
she immediately fell in love with the area’s topography
and ambience.
“It was funny because I kept saying I wanted a place
with an expansive view of water and mountains and sunsets, and
my husband kept saying you’re never going to find that
within two hours of New York City,” Ms. Lerner remembers,
“and there it was all in one.”
Ms. Lerner says the local New England architecture has informed
her work with many of her latest designs drawing inspiration
from local homes, barns and churches but that the inspiration
she draws from Sherman is more all-encompassing than simply
an aesthetic influence.
“My studio overlooks the lake. It’s very pristine.”
Ms. Lerner begins slowly searching for the right words to describe
the greater connection she feels Sherman facilitates between
herself and the universe.“One hardly sees any houses from
the view and when I look at the reflection of the cosmos on
the lake at night it is almost as if I can see the particles
in the universe vibrating. I just find it very mystical,”
she concludes.
Ms. Lerner’s artwork will be on display at the June Kelly Gallery
at 591 Broadway in Manhattan through April 20. The gallery is
open Tuesday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. For more information
on the show please call, 212-226-1660.
– Amy Mulvihill, 2004
view all of Sandra Lerner’s Mystic Realms
paintings
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