Some Art I Liked: Five Minutes on Jose Lerma
Jose Lerma: Xiaomara, 2022
(Above: Xiaomara, 2022, Jose Lerma, acrylic on burlap, 72 x 48 in) Click to enlarge.
TL;DR:
Artist Status: Jose is an established artist with some pieces acquired by museums and noted collectors (Series C).
Price: His paintings start around $25k and up, depending on size.
Where else can I see his work? His work is shown by multiple global galleries including Almine Rech and Nino Mier. You can see his new work in a group exhibition in Los Angeles, open from December 2-16.
Jose Lerma was born in 1971 in Seville, Spain. He earned an MFA from the University of Wisconsin Madison and BA from Tulane University. He splits his time between Puerto Rico and Chicago, where he is an Associate Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
His Style
At first glance Jose's works appear simple, yet they belie a tremendous amount of skill and preparation. His process begins with the customization of paint, blending pigments with construction materials and store-bought binders in buckets. The resulting material is very heavy and bubblegum-like in its consistency. Utilizing commercial brooms modified for his needs, he applies the paint in expansive strokes. Interestingly, Jose mentions that most of his pieces entail fewer than ten strokes, much like the portrait below, leaving little room for error.
(Above: Alejandra, 2023, Jose Lerma, acrylic on burlap, 96 x 72 in) Click to enlarge.
Contemporary Context
Jose's artistic approach involves employing impasto, a technique in painting that entails the application of thick layers onto the canvas. This method results in a textured, three-dimensional effect, characterized by prominently visible brushstrokes. It adds remarkable depth to the artwork, infusing it with a tactile quality. Notable works utilizing this technique include Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night (Saint Remy 1889) and Rembrandt’s striking Self Portrait (1660, below)
(Above: Self Portrait, 1660, Rembrandt van Rijn, oil on canvas, 32 x 26 in) Click to enlarge.
In Rembrandt’s work above, impasto was used to portray autobiographical features in unsparing detail. The artist captured nuances like the wrinkled brow, eye bags, and jowls by strategically layering paint to accentuate height and shadow play.
What’s unique with Jose is the deliberate removal of subject details in his recent works. Typically, portraits emphasize defining characteristics—Rembrandt’s advanced age in the example above. However, Jose diverges and opts for a more abstract approach. His subjects lack distinct features, urging the viewer to focus on elements of the medium. Attention is instead drawn to the interplay of complementary colors and the way the different depths create shadows under varying light.
Finally, the large scale of these works also makes the viewer feel small, as if they are a child looking at a magnified image. You can spend a good amount of time poring over his pieces, as illustrated by the scale in relation to the artist below:
Jose draws inspiration from artists like Piero della Francesca and Picasso’s later period for his pieces. In his earlier works, Jose referenced historical figures including those exhibited in museums, repurposed with a more lighthearted touch.
(Above: Portrait of Charles II of Spain, 2013, Jose Lerma, pigmented silicone on canvas, 30 x 24 in) Click to enlarge.
“Often the content of what interests me is either very dry, or maybe sad or tragic,” Jose said, “so I try to give it a very happy, approachable, friendly aesthetic.” As he has gotten older though, the institutional and academic references have diminished; you can see that evolution in the two portraits above and below. The first lady is reduced to the most recognizable symbols, including the pillbox hat color and the wavy hairstyle.
(Above: Jaqueline, 2022, Jose Lerma, acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 in) Click to enlarge.
Impact
Jose has held solo exhibitions in dozens of cities around the world including Shanghai, Milan, Los Angeles, and Miami. His works have been acquired by several global collections of note, including the Whitney Museum of American Art, The Saatchi Collection in London, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
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