Following an immersive study of the paint strokes of the great Abstract Expressionists, José Lerma disputes the wide assumption that abstraction is inherently aggressive because of a supposed frenzied activity. His wager and interest is that abstracting actually derives from extremely quiet and slow painting. In this vein, although the end result is thoroughly excited, Lerma's strokes are very controlled, almost a simulation, somewhere between a pseudo gesture and the real thing.

In late 2002 Lerma abandoned installation, video and photography to concentrate solely on painting. To shield what was considered unpopular at his residency at the time, he erected a partition to seclude the paintings. These first explorations in paint were charged with a supple tension between the heroic and pathetic and the main protagonist was taken from self portraits made as an adolescent. Located somewhere between the therapeutic and a desire to shun cleverness, a positive letting-go emerged. Past events were accessed and conveyed in a way that seemed not anchored in language but conveyed the visceral.

Lerma's work has been internationally recognized at solo gallery exhibitions most recently at Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York, Xavier Hufkens in Brussels, and Galleria Il Capricorno in Venice.

Courtesy of Tandem Press