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    Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma’s Minimal Portraits

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    “Leidy” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 48 x 36 inches. All images courtesy of Jose Lerma and Nino Mier Gallery, shared with permission

    Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma’s Minimal Portraits

    March 13, 2025

    Art

    Grace Ebert

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    When Jose Lerma encountered “Reception of the Grand Condé by Louis XIV” by Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, he found himself drawn to the figures tucked far behind the crowd. Known for his meticulous realism, Gérôme rendered these small characters with minimal brushstrokes, a decision that has influenced Lerma’s work for more than a decade.

    Exaggerating the sparse quality of the figures, Lerma (previously) paints portraits in wide swaths of acrylic applied with brooms and industrial tools. The new works retain the contrasts of earlier pieces as well-defined strokes sweep across the burlap to form heavy, impasto ridges.

    “Yamila” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 72 x 48 inches

    At Nino Mier Gallery in Brussels, Lerma’s new solo exhibition Bayamonesque presents the culmination of his current style. The title references his upbringing in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, and how we think about resemblance. Painting both real subjects and manufactured characters, the portraits reference those who might otherwise be relegated to the background, stripping down their likeness to only what’s necessary.

    Vacillating between figurative and abstract, the compositions are what Lerma refers to as “the summary of a portrait…The abstract painter in me is, above all, drawn to certain people for specific features that can be broken down to their bare minimum as paintable elements: an expressive cowl, a striking nose, a distinctive shape of lips.”

    Bayamonesque is on view from March 14 to April 17 in Brussels. Find more from Lerma on Instagram.

    “Celimar” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches

    “Leda” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 72 x 48 inches

    “Clarisa” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches

    “Felo” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 24 x 16 inches

    “Ismaela” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches

    “Rania” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches

    “Fernanda” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 24 x 16 inches

    “Lisi” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 48 x 36 inches

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      in Art

      In a Resounding ‘Renaissance,’ Conrad Jon Godly’s Acrylic Paintings Scale Alpine Peaks

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      “RENAISSANCE # 21” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 39 3/8 x 47 1/4 inches. All images courtesy of JD Malat Gallery, shared with permission

      In a Resounding ‘Renaissance,’ Conrad Jon Godly’s Acrylic Paintings Scale Alpine Peaks

      November 27, 2024

      Art

      Kate Mothes

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      Through the deft manipulation of thick acrylic paint on canvas, Conrad Jon Godly summons snow-capped peaks, tumbling mountain springs, and shifting weather.

      At JD Malat Gallery, the Swiss artist (previously) presents his largest body of work to date, RENAISSANCE, which follows a four-year hiatus. Godly is open about the mental health struggles that prevented him from painting, and in addition to his return to the gallery setting, the title refers to his experience of a “rebirth” as he overcame personal strife.

      “RENAISSANCE # 03” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches

      Godly is known for his dramatic impasto depictions of mountain landscapes, which were historically created using oil paint. In this new series, he has transitioned to acrylic, which dries much faster and lends itself to opacity. He conveys the striking beauty of the Swiss Alps through fundamental compositional elements like texture, form, and tonal shifts.

      Viewed up close, Godly’s paintings melt into near-abstraction as our attention is drawn to the qualities of the paint and the interaction of light and shadow. Farther away, the meticulously formed edges and gestural brush strokes reveal the crisp outlines of snow, rock, waterfalls, and storms.

      RENAISSANCE will inhabit both floors of the gallery in London and run from December 12 to January 18. In the meantime, see more on the artist’s website and Instagram.

      “RENAISSANCE # 06” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 34” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 59 x 51 1/8 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 25” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 43” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 70 7/8 x 90 1/2 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 29” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 59 x 51 1/8 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 07” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 28” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 47 1/4 x 39 3/8 inches

      “RENAISSANCE # 05” (2024), acrylic on canvas, 23 5/8 x 19 3/4 inches

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    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Art

      Minimal Strokes Applied with a Broom Form Jose Lerma’s Tactile Portraits

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      Art
      #abstract
      #impasto
      #painting
      #portraitsFebruary 7, 2022Grace EbertAll images © Jose Lerma, shared with permissionTo create his thick, abstract portraits, Chicago-based artist Jose Lerma trades his brush for hefty, commercial brooms that follow the lines of preliminary sketches. “The process of these paintings is laborious. I make my own paint and fabricate my supports. The material is heavy and unwieldy,” he tells Colossal. “It is done in one shot because it dries very fast, so there is a minimal margin for mistakes.”Lerma’s impasto works shown here have evolved from his original series of Paint Portraits, which revealed the general outline of a figure without any distinctive details. Wide swaths trace the length of the subject’s hair or neck, leaving ridges around the perimeter and a solid gob of pigment at the end of each stroke. His forward-facing portraits tend to split the figure in half by using complementary shades of the same color to mirror each side of a face.With a background in social sciences, history, and law, much of Lerma’s earlier pieces revolved around translating research into absurd, childlike installations and more immersive projects. “In recent works, maybe due to returning to my home in Puerto Rico and a much more relaxed non-academic setting, I have eliminated my reliance on history and research and now concentrate on just making portraits,” he shares. “It’s an approachable, tactile, and disarming aesthetic, but the absurdity remains perhaps in the excessive materiality.”Now, Lerma “works in reverse” and begins with a specific image that he reduces to the most minimal markings. “It’s a large work painted in the manner of a small work, and I think that has the psychological effect of making the viewer feel small, more like a child,” he says.Living and working between Puerto Rico and Chicago, where he teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Lerma currently has paintings on view in a number of shows: he’s at Yusto/Giner in Málaga through March 24 and part of the traveling LatinXAmerican exhibition. In April, he’ll be showing with Nino Mier Gallery at Expo Chicago and in May at Galeria Diablo Rosso in Panama. Until then, see more of his works on Instagram.
      #abstract
      #impasto
      #painting
      #portraitsDo stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member and support independent arts publishing. Join a community of like-minded readers who are passionate about contemporary art, help support our interview series, gain access to partner discounts, and much more. Join now! Share this story  More

    • 150 Shares189 Views

      in Art

      Impasto Layers Blur Portraits and Landscapes in Li Songsong’s Fragmented Oil Paintings

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      Art

      #China
      #impasto
      #memory
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

      November 11, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “I Am What I Am” (2020), 120 x 100 centimeters. All images © Li Songsong, shared with permission
      Chinese artist Li Songsong (previously) obscures portraits and wider landscapes with thick dabs of oil paint. His textured, impasto works are based on found photographs or imagined scenes, and each conveys a narrative tied to ordinary moments or a broader shared history. Varying the extent of distortion in every piece, Songsong tells Colossal that interrogating personal identity is at the center of his practice. The “cultural and historical aspects are related to China, and the language and expressions are my own,” he explains.
      Songsong’s recent works include a tender scene with an officer and his dog, a portrait of a hopeful pilot, and a panoramic shot featuring a crowd with hundreds of anonymous faces. The richly layered pieces speak to the haziness and fragmentary nature of memories and stories, especially those interpreted from a distance, and come into focus when viewed farther back with a squint.
      Based in Beijing, Songsong is currently working on a new series of works, which you can follow on his site.

      “Blondi” (2019), 210 x 180 centimeters
      “Blondi” (2019), 210 x 210 centimeters
      “Tea for Two” (2020), 210 x 210 centimeters
      “No More Tears” (2020), 100 x 100 centimeters
      “You Haven’t Looked at Me that Way in Years” (2020), 170 x 280 centimeters
      “Three Decades” (2019), 210 x 420 centimeters

      #China
      #impasto
      #memory
      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

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