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Journal by Lederle

I M A G E S Y S T E M
BY Mia Taylor

Hermann Lederle’s work is not easy to categorize. Encompassing a variety of media, styles and scales, it somehow manages to maintain an ineffable balance. The influence of Clemente can be felt in some of the earlier expressionist works and recent works on paper, while the "Pixel" series suggests a kind of Cubism for the digital age.

His work as a filmmaker cross-pollinates in subtle, oblique ways. The idea of pixel paintings came to him when working with digital images. "It was a discovery. We may have been seeing this way unconsciously since human beings had eyes, but now that we know we can zoom in on something, and then zoom out and see the whole picture, it becomes an awareness we can use to appreciate the pixilated version. Kind of like a primal, pre-conscious experience that relates to the era of technology."

Some of the larger canvases have a vital, explosive energy -- the large pixels radiating outward rhythmically, like a waltz, suggest a reserved spontaneity. At the center there is calm, control, and powerful emotion. They can be puzzle-like, with a trompe-l’oeuil quality. Figures or shapes disguised within the painting are not at first apparent, but once seen cannot be unseen. Figures float to the surface and then sink back

The process for his works on canvas involves a series of intricate layers, often using gold leaf, and oil paint incorporated with wax. There are, what he calls, three layer states: the conceptual starting point, the emotional, and then the unifying stage. The wax medium renders the paint transparent, allowing him to paint layer upon layer.

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