Gratitude A WINTER SURVEY OF CURRENT AND PAST PAINTINGS by
Edward Lentsch
Lentsch’s work has the pathos of Rembrandt, and the atmosphere of Kiefer. Tonya Turner Turner Gallery Santa Fe, NM EDWARD LENTSCH American born April 14 1959 California Profile
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Edward Lentsch is a well-established mid-career painter working in mixed media on canvas. Lentsch’s monumental sized works exhibit unique surfaces and refined textures while also reflecting a contemplative element of alchemy and spiritual introspection. The spiritual overtones of Lentsch’s painting are captured by his titles, where he uses mystical images and esoteric subjects to inspire the imagination of his viewer. His titles are compelling as he reaches for what he refers to as a “dialog that defines synectics…” (a concept first coined by Buckminster Fuller --20th century visionary inventor.) Wikipedia contributor William Gordon describes synectics as: a problem solving approach that stimulates thought processes of which the subject is generally unaware. He describes this method as, “Trusting things that are alien, and alienating things that are trusted.” In Lentsch’s work he often pairs paintings with titles that attempt to explain this idea of synectic reason by connecting a vast matrix of complex relationships between science and mysticism and the metaphysical and spiritual. “My work is about human potential and consciousness. My passion for painting is intertwined with a passion for science and learning; logic and mathematics, mysticism and mastery.” EDWARD LENTSCH APRIL 2015
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PROFESSIONAL PROFILE Edward Lentsch’s expansive artistic practice explores his relationship between the self, nature and the universe. From the Fibonacci sequence to the teachings of Aristotle, Lentsch attempts to create a bridge between the natural world and these intellectual canons, exploring the interconnection between the realms of science and mysticism, the metaphysical and the spiritual. He explores how these three facets are integrated within a global environment and moreover how we, as humans, fit within this complex matrix of thought using the ideas of some of the world’s greatest writers and scholars. Lentsch works across a variety of media to create an ‘energy of intention’, in which textures, compositions and colours (or their absence) are combined. At first glance, his abstract canvases bring to mind the earthen tones of Kiefer, or the scratched surfaces of Tàpies. Lentsch, however, draws from a broader art historical canon, and painting becomes an extension of the life force around him, a transformative experience through which he can mediate a pure experiential moment. Flowing from a nonverbal intuitive state of creative expression, Lentsch bridges a complex visual language in which colours and textures are lifted from the natural world. On canvas, they are refracted and tessellated, at times put through the process of entropy, which allows for them to be transformed and transmuted.
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Lentsch starts with a mastic and polymer foundation, before working with stone powders and dry pigments. Here, while the work is still wet, he uses trowels and sticks creating visual interventions. Before encapsulating the work in shellac and various varnishes, each works’ effervescence is enhanced and its distressed surface is developed. Works take on qualities of organic surfaces, such as sandstone or granite, using an intricate network of flecks and dots of pigment to proliferate the densely worked surface. One can imagine soft, snowy landscapes of white and grey or the verdant green of a tranquil overgrown pond or even the harsh dark lines of barren twigs and brush against an autumn landscape. Lentsch’s technique allows for the translation of our natural landscapes into abstract environments.
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It is the complex relationship between what is known, or the skill and technique, and what is manifested, the interpretation or intuition, that lies at the heart of Lentsch’s painterly technique. He uses the force of the paint as it is applied to the canvas as a sensory way to connect with the energy of the life force around him. Lentsch’s paintings also use logic existing within nature; for example, the number sequences that comprise the fractals of a snowflake. This ontological approach is spurred by the artist’s interest in Synectics, a methodology that seeks to explore how creativity works by a connecting of dots to reach a higher plane of understanding that encompasses the physical, psychological and symbolic. In this way Lentsch explores links between elemental phenomena and more ethereal, spiritual and magical experiences. Each of Lentsch’s works refers to a particular theory or intellectual or spiritual manifesto. His titles are not intended to act as complete narratives for individual paintings, but rather to demonstrate their significance as a theoretical foundation where each piece is connected to the other. His work becomes a series of links within a chain creating an intuitive dialogue between the conscious and subconscious. Just as his paintings make connections between the natural world and abstraction, it is the force of painting that helps him completes the circle. In diving into the canvas Lentsch understands his connection to the beauty and complexity of life that allow him to find freedom and personal empowerment. LONDON 2014 WRITTEN BY GALLERIE KASHYA HILDEBRAND 22 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8DE, United Kingdom
The Intention Experiment 2015 100 x 80 inches
The Raven Maestro 2015 58 x 38 inches
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In One Word
2015 70 x 100 inches
In One Word, be a saint...Virtue is the sun of the microcosm, and has for hemisphere a good conscience. She is so beautiful that she finds favour with both God and man. Nothing is lovable but virtue, nothing detestable but vice. Virtue alone is serious, all else is but jest. A man’s capacity and greatness are to be measured by his virtue and not by his fortune. She alone is all-sufficient. She makes men lovable in life, memorable after death. The Art of Wordly Wisdom by Baltasar Gracian 15th Century Spanish Jesuit
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Brainstorming
2015 86 x 75 inches
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The Hill at Tor
2015 78 x 88 inches
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Echoes Invictus
2015 90 x 72 inches
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The Empress
2015 86 x 112 inches
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A Rare Joy
2015 66 x 94 inches
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Target Unseen
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2015 46 x 76 inches
Know all things to be like this: a mirage, a cloud castle... nothing is as it appears. The Buddha
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Metanira
2015 58 x 38 inches
An Orchard for a Dome 2015 34 x 22 inches
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Flow of Emenations
2015 50 x 76 inchesinch
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Reserved is the Seal 2015 46 x 76 inches
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The Eye of Horus
2015 86 x 120 inches
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A Void Outshining 2015 50 x 70 inches
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Vetus Latinas
2015 46 x 76 inches
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In Greek mythology, King Minos dwelt in a palace at Knossos. He had Daedalus construct a labyrinth (by some connected with the double-bladed axe, or labrys) in which to retain his son, the Minotaur. Daedalus also built a dancing floor for Queen Ariadne (Homer, Iliad 18.590-2). The name “Knossos� was subsequently adopted by Arthur Evans because it seemed to fit the local archaeology. The identification has never been credibly questioned, mainly because of that archaeology. Western civilization was thus predisposed by legend to associate whatever palace ruins should be found at Knossos with the legends of Minos and the labyrinth.
Knossos
2015 70 x 90 inches
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The City in the Sea 2015 42 inches
My Last Duchess 2015 42 inches
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The Shortest Road 2015 55 x 45 inches
All That Gains
2015 55 x 45 inches
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Mind of Spirit
2015 62 x 54 inches
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A Trick for Attainment 2015 46 x 40 inches
More Precious
2015 46 x 40 inches
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Ta Mysterium
2015 50 x 80 inches
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The Songs of Destiny Part I 44
The Songs of Destiny Part II 2015 72 x 30 inches
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Of Unmeasured Capacity 2015 28 x 22 inches
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Of Unmeasured Capacity II 2015 28 x 22 inches
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Aristophanes Peace 2015 46 x 46 inches
Hypothesis Non Fingo 2015 52 x 50 inches
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The Path of Illumination 2015 76 x 62 inches
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The Randomized Algorithm 2015 42 x 62 inches
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I Believe in Miracles 2015 55 inches
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Hermeticum 55
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2015 60 x 50 inches Mixed Media Polymers, Stone Dust, Shellac reduction, raw pigments, Oil and Canvas, with Giusto Manetti 24k Gold Leaf, and Black Patina
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Eponymous
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2015 76 x 54 inches Mixed Media Polymers, Stone Dust, Shellac reduction, raw pigments, Oil and Canvas, with Giusto Manetti 24k Gold Leaf, and Black Patina
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Entropy and the Landscape
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The Mentalist
2015 46 x 84 inches
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La Poule Noire
2015 42 x 70 inches
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Punctilious
2015 35 x 30 inches
Know Your Star
2015 35 x 30 inches
Excellent to Be
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2015 30 x 20 inches Part I & II
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Liberation from Jupiter 2015 35 x 30 inches
Let the Wise
2015 35 x 35 inches
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Appolonius 2015 86 x 120 inches
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Observe the Ordinary 2015 42 x 60 inches
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Prophet Proffessor and the Linguist 2015 72 x 16 inches each
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The Isle of Man
2015 46 x 76 inches
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Preeminence
2015 42 x 70 inches
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To Atthis
2015 38 x 58 inches
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Know What Wimbling 84
2015 30 x 20 inches
Part I & II
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Where the Willows Grow 2015 38 x 22 inches
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Ephemeralization
2015 30 x 20 inches
The Straight Path
2015 34 x 25 inches
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Something to be Desired 2015 45 x 35 inches
The Passions are the Windows 2015 45 x 35 inches
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The Definite Optimist 2015 46 x 34 inches
The Protagonists of Practical Intention 2015 46 x 34 inches
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Duties of the Heart 2015 80 x 60 inches
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Heavenly Stems
2015 42 x 30 inches
Earhly Branches
2015 42 x 30 inches
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The Miracle of Watermelon II 2015 56 x 40 inches
Six Around One
2015 50 x 40 inches
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Dover Beach
2015 35 x 35 inches
In the City by the Sea 2015 35 x 35 inches
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Crossing the Bar
2015 35 x 35 inches
Do Not Die of the Fool’s Sickness 2015 35 x 35 inches
Miracle of the Blue Morpho
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2015 55 diameter x 1 1/2 inches White Gold, Shellac reduction, imitation pearls oil varnish reduction pigmented on canvas
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Intrinsic motivation SELECTED WORKS FROM 2010-2014
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Here this first, I have never thought of writing for reputation and honor, what I have must come out, that is the reason I compose. Ludvig Van Beethoven
From Jonah Lehrer, an illustration of the power of intrinsic motivation — the desire to do a thing because you enjoy it, rather than for any extrinsic reward like a paycheck:
The Sawyer Effect for Daniel Pink
2012 120 x 80 inches
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Conversations with God 2006 84 x 132 inches
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Argumentum Ad Hominum 2012 100 x 80 inches�
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The Hypothesis of Formative Causation 2014 100 x 80 inches
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The Exponential Calculus 2011 78 x 132 inches
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Eleusinian Mysteries Part IV 2014 66 x 88 inches
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Eleusinian Mysteries Part III 2013 50 x 80 inches
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Fragments of the Presocratics 2012 100 x 80 inches
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Aristotle’s Apodicticity 2011 78 x 132 inches
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Lady of the Mountain 2013 66 x 88 inches
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Scimitar Shaped Estuary 2013 76 x 42 inches
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The Cracked Brass Bells 2014 40 x 62 inches
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Noetique
2013 51 x 63 inches
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Raimundus Lullas 2014 50 x 80 inches
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Bernoulli’s Principle 2014 55 x 45 inches
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inspiration
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Primal Field of Nature 2014 80 x 100 inches
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Concept of Mind
2013 54 x 76 inches
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Elysium
2013 50 x 80 inches
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The Polar Equation 2013 62 x 50 inches
Phase Transition
2013 68 x 48 inches
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The Enthemematic Argument 2011 60 x 50 inches
Libre Abacci
2012 60 x 50 inches
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Tasso’c Three Wishes 2012 66 x 55 inches
Ravenloft
2012 65 x 55 inches
New Mysterianism 2013 35 x 35 inches 152
The Halo Effect
2012 35 x 35 inches
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Nortique Part II
2011 60 x 50 inches
Lau Tzu’s Three Treasures 2011 35 x 30 inches
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Moment of Reflection 2012 38 x 58 inches
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Apocrypha Synecticus 2011 82 x 55 inches
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Cellular Rejuvination 2012 80 x 60 inches
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Pistis Sophia
201o 55 x 45 inches
Grizzled Skipper
2010 44 x 40 inches
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Pod of the Milweed 2010 66 x 88 inches
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White Admiral
2010 44 x 40 inches
Cleopatra
2010 44 x 42 inches
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The Ace of Poetry 2011 66 x 88 inches
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Defining Synectics Part II 2012 86 x 64 inches
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Petro Mamba
2010 80 x 60 inches
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Seven of Music
2010 46 x 40 inches
Seven of Music II
2010 46 x 40 inches
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Armetrine
2010 46 x 70 inches
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Sinan the Architect 2014 54 x 76 inches
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Greek Fire
2010 50 x 80 inches
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Fire of the Golden Dawn 2014 46 x 42 inches
Tensegrity
2012 88 x 66inches
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Oil of Neroli
2010 66 x 88 inches
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Anglewing
2010 60 x 50 inches
The Architect
2010 80 x 60 inches
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Lady Slipper
2010 50 x 90 inches
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Gypsy Moth
2010 90 x 50 inches
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Setpum Planetarum 2013 76 x 54 inches
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Didactic Method of Elenchus 2011 80 x 100 inches
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Staccato Blue
2013 46 x 68 inches
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Simplicius of Cilicia 2013 100 x 80 inches
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Seven Books of Osan 2013 42 x 70 inches
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The Lost Paintings I 2011 28 x 22 inches
The Lost Paintings II 2011 28 x 22 inches
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The Mastery of Te’ Part III 2013 50 x 90 inches
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The Soul of Dosuka 2011 50 x 60 inches
Gypsy Moth
2013 50 x 42 inches
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Sanctum Sanctorum 2013 50 x 80 inches
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Ars Magna
2012 11 x 16.5 feet
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Sunset Plaza opening at Tobi Tobin 2011
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OK HARRIS EXHIBITION 2007
“I Like it” music video Enrique Iglasius
MyHouse Nightclub Hollywood 218
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EXHIBITIONS (partial list)
International Art Fair Exhibitions 2015 Scope Miami 2015 SCAPE Corona Del Mar/Newport Beach, CA 2015 Dallas Fine Art Fair 2014 Abu Dhabi Int’l Fine Art Fair 2014 KFIAF Seoul South Korea 2013 Costello Childs Scottsdale 2012-14 Art Aspen 2012 Art San Diego 2012 Palm Springs International Art Fair 2012 Art Hamptons 2011 Art San Diego 2011 San Francisco Fine Art Fair 2010 Art Hamptons 2005 Art Chicago Navy Pier, Chicago, IL 2003 Art Chicago, Julie Baker Fine Art, Grass Valley, CA 2002 Palm Springs International Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA 2000 Palm Springs International Art Fair, Palm Springs, CA
Gallery Exhibitions
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2010 Tobi Tobin, Los Angeles 2010 The Edge, Santa Fe 2010 Costello Childs Gallery Scottsdale 2010 Budwell Middle East Muscat, Oman 2010 “Paradigms and Paradoxes” Forré and Co. Aspen, CO 2009 “The Iridescence of Lepodoptera” Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA 2009 “The Alchemist” Ogilvie Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL 2009 Madison Gallery, La Jolla, CA 2009 Zane Bennett, Santa Fe, NM 2009 Zane Bennett, Art Chicago 2008 Gallery Moda, Santa Fe, NM 2008-09 Onessimo Fine Art 2008 Ogilvie Pertle Gallery, Chicago, IL 2007-2008 “Return to the Source OK Harris Works of Art, New York, NY” OK Harris Works of Art, New York, NY 2007 “Lesson’s From the I Ching” Onessimo Fine Art, Palm Beach Gardens, FL 2007 “Remembering Atlantis” Eleonore Austerer Gallery, Palm Desert, CA 2007 Hernandez Contemporary, Scottsdale, AZ 2007 Ogilvie/Pertl Gallery, Chicago, IL 2007 Gallery Moda, Santa Fe, NM 2006 “The Saffron Adhara” Lanoue Fine Art, Boston, MA 2006 “Modern Masters, Santa Fe, NM 2006 Hernandez Contemporary, Scottsdale, AZ 2006 Modern Masters Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA 2005 Flanders Gallery, Minneapolis, MN 2004 Elizabeth Edwards Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA 2004 Flanders Gallery, Minneapolis, MN
MEDIA AND PUBLICATIONS
Bibliography (for title origins)
2014 Cover Luxe Magazine Southern California 2013 Harpers Bazaar Magazine Japan 2013-2014 TV show Million Dollar Listing 2010 Music Video recording artist Enrique Iglesias “I Like It” 2010 Music Video recording artist Ne-Yo “Champaign Life” 2012 Elle Décor Magazine 2011 Angelino Magazine LA 2010 LA Times 2010 Palm Springs Life 2007 Art in America 2006 Palm Springs Life
The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume 1 by Drunvalo Melchizedek The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life: Volume 2 by Drunvalo Melchizedek The Bible Code by Michael Drosnin The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav The Dead Sea Scrolls by G. Vermes The Divine Proportion by H.E. Huntley Divine Proportion: Phi In Art, Nature, and Science by Priya Hemenway Egyptology: search for the Tomb of Osiris by Candlewick Press The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean translation and interpretation by Doreal The Fourth Turning An American Prophecy by William Strauss and Neil Howe God and the New Physics by Paul Davies God is a Verb by David A Cooper The Golden Ratio: The Story of PHI, the World’s Most Astonishing Number by Mario Livio How to Know God by Deepak Chopra The I Ching or Book of Changes by Brian Browne Walker Living in the Heart: How to Enter into the Sacred Space Within the Heart by Drunvalo Melchizedek Mathematics from the Birth of Numbers by Jan Gullberg Morphic Resonance & the Presence of the Past by Rupert Sheldrake Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner The Mystery of Aleph by Amir D. Aczel A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose Sacred Geometry: Deciphering the Code by Stephen Skinner Sacred Geometry: Philosophy and Practice (Art and Imagination) by Robert Lawlor Sacred Geometry (Wooden Books) by Miranda Lundy The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra
Wizardology: The Secrets of Merlin by CandlePress (Includes references for painting titles) The Code Book by Simon Singh Six Not So Easy Pieces by Fritjof Capra The Principia by Isaac Newton Angels and Demons by Dan Brown The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown The Dead Sea Scrolls by G. Vermes And the Sea is Never Full by Elle Wiesel The Soul of a Butterfly by Muhammad Ali and Hana Yasmeen Ali The Notebook of Leonardo DaVinci by Edward MacCurdy Creating Affluence: A to Z Steps to a Richer Life by Deepak Chopra Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling by Dr. Wayne Dyes The Celestine Prophecy: An Adventure by James Redfield The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown The Transformational Book Circle SeriesThe Yoga of Spiritual Devotion: Narada Bhakti Sutras by Prem Prakash The Book of Life: The Master-Key to Inner Peace and Relationship Harmony edited and interpreted by Gay Hendricks and Philip Johncock Siddhartha an Indian Tale by Hermann Hesse The Essential Alan Watts: Seven Things We Thought We Knew About God and the Cosmos (But Didn’t) by Alan Watts The Power of a Single Thought: How to Initiate Major Life Changes from the Quiet of Your Mind revised and edited by Gay Hendricks and Debbie DeVoe Divine Magic:The Seven Sacred Secrets of Manifestation revised and edited by Doreen Virtue, Ph.D. What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson Touching the Divine: How to Make Your Daily Life a Conversation with God edited and interpreted by Gay Hendricks and James Twyman The Creative Pocess: Reflections on Inventions in the Arts and Sciences edited by Brewster Ghiselin
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COMMUNITY Founder Artist League.com a think-tank studio for emerging artists. Artist League Projects has hosted dozens of internships and apprenticeships for emerging artist in the past ten years. Lentsch mentors and invests both his time and personal capital into exhibiting others work in art fairs and selling/marketing initiatives. He continues to fund emerging artist’s projects and art works in his new studio in St Louis Park. Currently sponsoring Thaddius Jameson (Autistic- Idetic memory-nominated for Fulbright Scholarship.) Past artists sponsored by Artist League include Coleman Miller, David Bonagurio, Becca Shewmake and Alicia Dvorak.
“My paintings are derived from a source of contemplation and fascination with the wonders of an awesome logic that exists in nature,” Lentsch explains. For Lentsch, “As words define those things that are most important to our definition of self, art is the translation of those same but most important definitions.” Lentsch is an artist, author, architectural builder, designer, inventor, and entrepreneur. He resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota and works out of his studio located in Minneapolis. Lentsch is also the founder of Artist League Studios, a Minneapolis based think-tank/studio for emerging artists.
Art Donations for Auctions (partial list): MOCA
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Minneapolis Institute of Arts William Shatner’s Hollywood Charity Auction Big Brothers and Sisters of America American Cancer Society Perspectives Greater Minneapolis Crisis Center Nursery
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Acknowledgements Many thanks to the many galleries I have had the opportunity to work with through the years, it’s with great appreciation for your commitment, support and friendship. Also to my assistant Casey Fredlund for his awsome attitude dilligent work ethic and amazing enthusiasm. and always my Debbie, Sarah and Theo.
© 2015 Edward Lentsch and Morning Light Studios All Rights Reserved
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