LANCE LETSCHER
FIGURE 8
11. Pink Garden with a Bridge
Red Book with Designs
17. Three Parrots
20. Small Garden with a Cactus
Erin Keever
A Gift of New Cutting: In the Studio with Lance Letscher
Why is it that after visiting Lance Letscher in his Austin studio I have the uncontrollable urge to go home and comb through old books and present the choicest to him as gifts? I’m not the only one it seems. Much of his collage imagery comes from similar inclinations.
While he has worked in a variety of media throughout his life, collage making is the media that now dominates Letscher’s practice. His collages have changed through the years, from open to compact, abstract to representational, and maybe even minimalist to maximalist.
In TAI Modern’s exhibition “Figure 8” (named after an Elliot Smith album and the tight overlapping nature of Letscher’s work), the artist is perhaps most concerned with the cutting.
“I’ve really tried to knuckle down and make the cutting more expressive and more intricate.”
Letscher is conscious of challenging himself to cut the most difficult shapes. The level of difficulty? Think of removing everything around each tiny branch of the thickest foliage on a detailed photograph of a Christmas tree. Conifers, junipers, and cedars are some of his latest source materials. He says pointing to a stack of books. “It’s not really a direction per se – but I found a wealth of information on them.”
One wonders, exactly with how much meaning is connected to Letscher’s selection of imagery. Are conifers fueling a conceptual interest or purely a formal one? Letscher says he seeks out specific things independently, but recognizes when something good is offered, for example, a cache of conifers or a sumptuously illustrated tome “Parrots of the World.” Whether the endless needles of the evergreen or the spectacular plumage of parrots, he’s happy to exploit them for formal purposes.
In “Parrots under the Bridge,” 27 birds can be counted, although not without great difficulty, as the various species of mostly green parrots and parakeets are inextricably woven into an intricate textured fabric of floral and vegetal collaged elements. Architectural details such as bridges and train tracks act like scaffolding securing the crowded and one imagines cacophonous scene.
Equally dense and visually noisy is “Sea Gull,” combining a variety of shore birds nesting, perched, squawking and in flight. Integrated into their world are cubes of color and pattern along with evidence of text. While this ornithological imagery resulted in part from a recent trip to the Texas coast, the use of coastal avian life, like in other images, is a means to an end. And for Letscher that end is to offer a viewing experience in composition, color, and detail.
These collages demand intense and prolonged looking.
Take “Purple Study.” Colorfully blossomed shrubbery is pieced and arranged into its own blooming nebula juxtaposed with a monochromatic crisscrossing labyrinth of pipework. Floating over the framework of fitted pipes is a delicate diatom, a highly ornamental, yet elusive microalgae. The razor precision of its cutting together with its fine lines make something so delicate it might be mistaken for a dandelion. Such a relationship between nature and machine is an ongoing theme in Letscher’s work.
Another impressive bit of cutting can be seen in “Paint a Hole,” where disparate images merge again. Small white shapes with black squiggles punctuate the top of the picture. Look carefully and notice they’re words written in cursive – hastily and emphatically crossed out. Letscher has a friend who works at a local grocery store and makes lists, marking things off when accomplished.
“He gives me the lists,” Letscher explains. “I’ve got pages of them, and they’re covered, front and back, and the paper is getting fuzzy and starting to break down a bit from being written on repeatedly and being carried around in his pocket all the time. I like the idea of imagery that represents thought, and these are especially juicy because they are crossed out.”
Underneath the floating calligraphic features in “Paint a Hole” darker shapes and scraps are applied effectively creating atmospheric perspective and depth. Cut from this color field is a spiky arch revealing a foundational layer of bright pinks and reds peeking out. Open tulips might nod to Dutch still life, echoed in the tiny windmills tucked in towards the bottom of the page. Large white modular light fixtures when decontextualized from the catalog from which they were mined, resemble UFOs or giant white lozenges
hovering in space. In the center a disembodied human arm emerges from a spherical fixture and paints a canvas on an easel, palette, and paintbox nearby.
As the incorporation of his friend’s written words reveal, inevitably life creeps into the conceptualization of Letscher’s works. The “artist at work” imagery (sourced from vintage Walter T. Foster “How to Paint” books) started slipping into compositions, after some particularly biting remarks from a critic. Letscher’s visual response? An arm with no head along with the work’s title “Paint a Hole.” After all, the spatial ideas he’s processing can’t be achieved through painting.
“Smoke and Steam” is another work alluding to the artist’s craft. Amidst layers of lush foliage, mushrooms, purple flowers, and a dose of rainbow stripes, emerge two large black and white hands grasping a short knife and pruning some little leaves. From the top of the knife’s point, a cartoon steam cloud is carefully placed; more clouds attached over it add to the building spray. Machine-like hands generating heat and vapor represent the prolific cutting of the collage artist.
Letscher is prolific. He cuts mostly with a short X-Acto knife and the aid of a giant hands-free magnifying glass at his desk. With years of experience cutting he says, “It’s not really hard for me to cut. But working on something and staying focused for six hours is a bit more of a challenge.”
I notice two hand grip strengthening tools on his windowsill.
In addition to his strong work ethic, there’s plenty of opportunity for play too. Letscher moves things around a lot before gluing and has developed a keen intuition for placement, akin to muscle memory.
Perhaps that’s why acquaintances are drawn to hand over their heirloom printed paper goods. Because they know Letscher can make them into art that is complex and expressive, and that viewers will lean in closely to look at, over, and over again.
Erin Keever is an Independent Writer & Art Historian living in Austin, Texas
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Figure 8
Tai Modern Santa Fe, NM
Sail to the Moon
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Austin, TX
Koelsch Gallery
Houston TX
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson Hole, WY
Homes and Gardens
Mcnay Museum
San Anthonio TX
2022 The Art of the Painterly Collage
Conduit Gallery
Dallas TX
Intaglio
Flatbed Press
Austin TX
Birds and Fishes
Stephen Clark Gallery
Austin TX
2021 Tenuous Logic
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson Hole WY
Lance Letscher, Collage
The Wright gallery Texas A&M university College Station,TX
2020 A Bird Flew in Through My Window Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
Tai Modern Santa Fe, NM
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Austin, TX
2019 The Miraculous Staircase
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson Hole, WY
2017 Cut & Staple: New Work by Lance Letscher
Pavel Zoubok Gallery
New York, NY
Untroubled Mind
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson Hole, WY
Lance Letscher
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Austin, TX
Parallel Universe
Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
2016 Secret File
TAI Modern
Santa Fe, NM
Lance Letscher: New Collages
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Austin, TX
2014 Real Life Drama
Pavel Zoubok Gallery
New York, NY
Galerie Vidal Saint Phalle
Paris, France
2013 Majority Rules: A Decade of Contemporary Art Acquisitions
McNay Art Museum
San Antonio, TX
Pregunta Numero Uno Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson, WY
2012 Eight Modern
Santa Fe, NM
D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
2011 The Ghost in the Machine
Galerie Vidal Saint Phalle
Paris, France
Needle in the Hay
Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
Further Work From The Middle Ages
D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
Lance Letscher, Collage
Galerie Peter Vann
St. Moritz, Switzerland
Hard Eye
Tayloe Piggott Gallery
Jackson Hole, WY
2010 Galeria Miguel Alzueta
Madrid, Spain
The Perfect Machine
D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
The Perfect Machine #2
Eight Modern Gallery
Santa Fe, NM
Lance Letscher, Collage
Pascal Polar Galerie
Brussels, Belgium
New Work From the Middle Ages
McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX
Thinking Machines
Galerie Vidal St. Phalle
Paris, France
Nervous System
Howard Scott Gallery
New York, NY
Selected Solo Exhibitions (continued)
Faktura/Tektonika Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
Lance Letscher, Cottage Industry
Grover Thurston Gallery
Seattle, WA
2009 Grover/Thurston Gallery
Seattle, WA
Galeria Miguel Alzueta
Barcelona, Spain
2008 Industry and Design D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
Machines, Buildings, and Books
McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX
2007 Lance Letscher, Comedy/Tragedy
Galerie Vidal St. Phalle
Paris, France
Furthermore, New Work by Lance Letscher Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX Lance Letscher – Collage
Armarillo Museum of Art
Amarillo, TX
2006 Lance Letscher: Index D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
Lists and Poems Gallery 68
Austin, TX
Lance Letscher, Photographs
Stephen L. Clark Gallery
Austin, TX
Lance Letscher, Recent Collages
Galeria Miguel Alzueta
Barcelona, Spain
Here and There, New Work by Lance Letscher McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX
Windows and Curtains
Grover/Thurston Gallery
Seattle, WA
2005
Lance Letscher
Howard Scott Gallery
New York, NY
Lance Letscher: Current Work
The Beeville Art Museum
Beeville, TX
Lance Letscher. Drawing with Scissors
Richard Levy Gallery
Albuquerque, NM
Lance Letscher, Plan B Steven Wolf Gallery
San Francisco, CA
Lance Letscher
Grover/Thurston Gallery
Seattle, WA
Lance Letscher: New Work McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX
2004 Lance Letscher
Art Gaspar
Barcelona, Spain
Books or Parts of Books
The Galveston Arts Center
Galveston, TX (travelled to: The Austin Museum of Art, Austin TX; The Arlington Art Center, Arlington, TX; and The Museum of Southeast Texas, Beaumont, TX)
Lance Letscher: Provisional Beauty D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
Lance Letscher Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
Tyler Museum of Art
Tyler, TX
Old Jail Art Center
Albany, TX
2003 Lance Letscher, Collage – Arbeiten/ Collage – Works
Galerie Renate Bender
Munich, Germany
Lance Letscher, New Work McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX, catalog
Lance Letscher, New work in Cut Paper Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
2002 Lance Letscher, Someone’s Life, Collages and Drawings
Howard Scott Gallery
New York, NY
Lance Letscher, Collage & Drawings McMurtrey Gallery
Houston, TX
2001 Lance Letscher D. Berman Gallery
Austin, TX
2000 New Work, Lance Letscher Slugfest Gallery, Austin, TX
Fall Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
1999 Games and Puzzles Gallery Lombardi Austin, TX
Paper Work Slugfest Gallery
Austin, TX
1998 Lance Letscher: Drawings Gallery Lombardi
Austin, TX
1997 Lance Letscher James Gallery
Houston, TX
The Small Island Conduit Gallery
Dallas, TX
1996 Lance Letscher James Gallery Houston, TX
Selected
Solo Exhibitions (continued)
1991 The Tree Galveston Arts Center
Galveston, TX
1990 White N.NO.O. Gallery
Dallas, TX
The Angel of Gravity James Gallery
Houston, TX
Lance Letscher and David Mackie — New Work James Gallery
Houston, TX
1989 Lance Letscher: Sculpture, Prints, and Painting Richard/Bennett Gallery
Los Angeles, CA Home N.NO.O. Gallery Dallas, TX
Lance Letscher Trans Avant-Garde Gallery
Austin, TX
Lance Letscher James/Schubert Gallery
Houston, TX
1988 Lance Letscher Galeria “ON” Poznan, Poland
Lance Letscher James/Schubert Gallery, Houston, TX
1987 Lance Letscher
R.G.K. Foundation Austin, TX
