LANCE LETSCHER
08 OCTOBER — 21 NOVEMBER 2021
LANCE LETSCHER TEN UOUS L OGIC
TAYLOE PIGGOTT GALLERY
BLOOM | 40 x 60 in | collage | 2021
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UNTITLED GREEN BOOK | 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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BLACK LETTER | collage | 22 1/2 x 19 in | 2021
UNTITLED YELLOW BOOK | 22 1/2 x 19 in | collage | 2021
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RED LETTER | 12 x 9 in | collage | 2021
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“You know, there’s logic to it, but the logic is tenuous and intangible.” - LANCE LETSCHER
UNTITLED RED BOOK | 7 3/4 x 5 1/4 x 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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SMALL WATERFALL | 21 3/4 x 30 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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RED TREE | 19 x 24 in | collage | 2021
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UNTITLED GREEN BOOK | 7 x 5 x 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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BOOKSHELVES | 12 x 8 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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LARGE GARDEN | 40 x 60 in | collage | 2021
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UNTITLED WHITE BOOK | 14 x 11 x 2 in | collage | 2021
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UNTITLED RED BOOK | 14 x 10 1/2 x 2 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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MODERN BUILDING | 12 x 9 in | collage | 2021
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TINY HOUSE | 48 x 34 in | collage | 2015
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UNTITLED BLUE BOOK | 18 x 5 x 3/4 in | collage | 2021
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FOX AND RABBIT | 10 1/2 x 16 in | collage | 2021
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THE MAP | 14 x 22 in | collage | 2021
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UNTITLED YELLOW BOOK | 22 1/2 x 19 in | collage | 2021
UNTITLED BLUE BOOK | 26 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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RED STAIRCASE | 13 x 9 in | collage | 2021
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OWL IN THE THORNBUSH | 15 x 12 in | collage | 2021
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ROSE TREE | 14 x 11 1/2 in | collage | 2021
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PURPLE GARDEN | 12 3/4 x 19 in | collage | 2021
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TENUOUS LOGIC
“You know, there’s logic to it, but the logic is tenuous and intangible.” -Lance Letscher AUSTIN-BASED ARTIST LANCE LETSCHER creates ornate, ethereal worlds of found paper collage. Underlying each work is an undeniable narrative built from imagery individually chosen for, in the artist’s own words, its “emotionless banality,” yet whose combined creativity borders on the absurd. These shards of prosaic imagery from another time leap and bound within a carefully constructed composition, leading the eye on what can only be described as an aesthetic adventure. This body of work, titled Tenuous Logic, was particularly inspired by architectural garden design, which one appreciates as your eye is hedged toward the splendor of a bloom in one moment or splashes into the depths of a pool of cerulean blue in the next. Letscher loves thinking about the structure of a garden three dimensionally, building depth through color theory, and physical gradations of subject matter in space. Much of Letscher’s imagery is itself an intersection between photography and hand illustration. Viewed under a microscope, Letscher relishes discoveries of hand-painted photographs valued in advertising from the early twentieth century onward through the seventies and eighties. In a sense, these anonymous artists’ hands all play into this sense of the in-between that is at the essence of Letscher’s work. 59
In this spirit, Letscher introduces artists’ books, works of art in book form that elegantly bridge the space between sculpture, art object and collage. Artists’ books have a long and storied narrative, dating back to the Futurists and Dadaists in their politically motivated pamphlets and magazines, by Fluxus artists in their happenings, and by conceptual artists’ in their work to dematerialize the art object. Letscher’s books present a palimpsest of gradated color pinwheels. According to the artist, “I started making pinwheels in 2006 and every once in a while they’ll become relevant to the work I’m making. It’s not a fallow field, you know, it’s still fertile. It’s just trying to find new ways to use it. I like making them a lot. They’re super labor intensive.” He continues, “It’s so much work. And I like it. I like going out there and turning my mind off and letting my hands just work and letting time pass that way. It’s a nice way for time to pass.” Since the late 1980’s, Lance Letscher has used the raw materials of wood, marble, old books and paper in such a manner as to remove them from their original context. As a youth, he cleaned out vacated rental properties owned by his grandparents and developed a curious habit of imagining other people’s lives from the traces left behind. Trained as a printmaker, Letscher’s early career focused on intensely conceptual sculptures of marble or wood: a doll-sized marble wheelchair, a dwarfed piano of wood, a rumpled child’s pillow in marble. In the mid-1990s Letscher shifted from his conceptual sculptures towards paper and collage but took away from his experience as a sculptor incredible patience and ability to focus on labor-intensive compositions. He began to collect antique paper, ledgers, old notebooks, diaries, letters, record covers, magazines and
books from thrift stores, junkshops, used-booksellers, and even dumpsters. He meticulously organizes and stores these weathered materials, which he later surgically deconstructs and deploys, creating new narratives from shards of a memory. Letscher’s geometric and contemplative juxtapositions of color and pattern call to mind the classic craft of quilt making, which he has cited as an influence. Other frequent comparisons are to a wide and varied roster of other artists: Josef Albers, Piet Mondrian, James Castle, and Martín Ramírez, among others. Letscher’s most recent works explore notions of locomotion, technology, and the creative impulse at the heart of human nature. Letscher re-visits his sculptural roots as his collages leap into three dimensions, using vibrant colors and letters to cover the surfaces of such varied subjects as guns, motorcycles, rockets, tools and toy planes. A diligent and nearly constant worker, Letscher follows, with enthusiasm and gratitude, wherever his source materials lead him. Lance Letscher attended the University of Texas where he received both his Bachelor of Fine Arts and his Master of Fine Arts. He later apprenticed for Amado Peña, an artist known for his Southwestern-style prints. He currently lives and works in Austin, Texas. His work is held in public and private collections around the country and has been reviewed in Art in America, The New York Observer, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications. A full-length monograph of his work, Lance Letscher: Collage, was published in 2009.
Published on the occasion of the exhibition LANCE LETSCHER | TENUOUS LOGIC © 2021 All Rights Reserved
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