Places, People, Recollections: Works by Leslie Lerner

January 4 – 28, 2012
Allyn Gallup Contemporary Art (Featured Gallery)

The opening reception, January 13, 7 p.m., will include an introduction to the Lerner’s work by critic and arts writer, Dominique Nahas. The gallery is at 1288 N. Palm Ave., in Sarasota. For more information about this exhibit, call 941-366-2454

This exhibit reflects a lifetime of creation. Lerner was a prolific artist with the restless spirit of a wanderer. In his later works, his images depict recurring characters on enigmatic pilgrimages: “The Man with the Wooden Arm” and “The Lost Boy” explore panoramic landscapes, reflecting the vistas of Lerner’s own global and spiritual travels. Lerner’s last body of work,”My Life in America,” explores “oil, wealth, and foreign policy, which takes the form of a donkey.”

Lerner was a painting instructor at Ringling College of Art and Design for 15 years and twice a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Achievement Award. His work is in numerous museum collections, including the Corcoran Museum of Art, Arkansas Arts Center, Oakland Museum, the Progressive Corporation and the Norton Museum of Art.

According to Lerner’s widow, Jill Lerner, the estate will continue to work with galleries and dealers in placing works in private and public collections.

A monograph, Leslie Lerner: 25 Years, was recently published and will be on sale at the gallery. Edited by Jill Lerner and Jennifer Mumford, it was published under the aegis of Ringling College of Art and Design and also “with the support of many of Leslie’s friends and collectors of the work,” says Jill Lerner. The book showcases more than 210 color images of Lerner’s work with essays and contributions by Eleanor Heartney, Peter Frank, Dominique Nahas, Neil Watson, Christian Sampson and Chie Fueki. Funds from sales of the monograph will be directed to The Leslie Lerner and Roxie Thomas Scholarship Fund at the Ringling College of Art and Design.