Sandra Lerner

Resume / Bio / Statement

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Sandra Lerner
Entanglement

March 9 - April 18, 2023
June Kelly Gallery

My work celebrates the creative process of life in a universe that is constantly in flux. I like to work in series-on a few paintings at the same time. I'm always looking for the possibilities, the "accident" of the colors and shapes as they dry and open new vistas for me. Very rarely do I draw the composition in advance. The intuitive part of me is always on alert. I suggest in my work and let the viewer complete what is meaningful for them.

I call this current series "Entanglement" because I am painting the energy and communication that occur between two particles or entities. Once they have interacted with each other their behavior is intertwined forever, even though they might be separated by millions of miles. It's the same energy, whether spoken or unspoken, intuitive in nature that is shared by people or other species. Many esteemed physicists theorize that it is entanglement that possibly keeps space/time together.

Entanglement happens at every level. It's a form of communication that is central to the creative process. I am trying to show the energy or communication between two entities that are entangled on a very deep level. This can happen at the cellular or subatomic level, or as a cosmic event. An example of the latter would be if one galaxy formed a wormhole with another galaxy that was millions of miles away. Wormholes are a source of connection in many of my paintings. They are tunnel-like passages through space-time that might exist-creating shortcuts for long journeys across the universe. My paintings explore this universal interconnectedness at the macrocosmic and microcosmic levels.

My love of color and the textural feeling of working with paints have been life changing. I studied the piano for eight years when I was growing up. I had wanted to be a concert pianist, but when I discovered painting as a young woman, I was "found." There are many similarities between art and music such as the variations of color, rhythm, tempo and shape. Over the years I tried to paint practically every day. I still have a note hanging on my studio wall that says, "No day without a line."

Calligraphy has been an essential element in my work. I studied with a master calligrapher on my multiple trips to Japan. I use calligraphic gestures to express the movement and flow that I'm feeling in the painting. When I lectured about my work at various Japanese-American Cultural Centers in Japan, many in the audience were perplexed about how I could paint the calligraphic strokes without it having a meaning. The gestures that appear in my paintings could also be echoes or morphic resonances of other cultures that hover in the universe.

Eastern philosophy has been a major influence in my life. I was captivated by the Taoist concept of the inherent oneness in everything in the universe amid the multiplicities that we see in our everyday life. Lawrence Le Shan's book, The Medium, the Mystic and the Physicist, opened the door to physics for me. I subsequently took seminars with Fritjof Capra who wrote The Tao of Physics. The exploration of the parallels between modern physics and eastern mysticism fascinated me and became a major part in my painting over the years. In fact, when I graduated from college in 1978, my thesis was called "Parallels in Taoism and Physics."

My paintings strive to heighten our awareness of our oneness with the universe. To quote Neil deGrasse Tyson: "We are in the universe and the universe is in us."

© 2023 Sandra Lerner

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Lerner lives and works in New York and Connecticut. She received a bachelor’s degree in art from Hofstra University and studied independently with Leo Manso, Jerry Okomoto and Harry Sternberg. She also studied calligraphy in Kyoto, Japan with the master Kampo Harada. Lerner has participated in many one-person and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Japan. She is represented in numerous public and private collections, including Harvard University, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, MA; the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut; Heckscher Museum, Huntington, New York; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ; Kampo Museum, Kyoto, Japan; World Study Museum, Fukuoka, Japan; Price Waterhouse, and 3M Corporation.

She has created sets for performances by Eiko and Koma, the Japanese dancers and performers.

Sandra Lerner is represented by June Kelly Gallery in New York City.