{"id":318,"date":"2025-03-13T18:43:40","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T19:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/?p=318"},"modified":"2025-03-18T11:37:02","modified_gmt":"2025-03-18T11:37:02","slug":"sparse-brushstrokes-give-rise-to-thick-impasto-in-jose-lermas-minimal-portraits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/13\/sparse-brushstrokes-give-rise-to-thick-impasto-in-jose-lermas-minimal-portraits\/","title":{"rendered":"Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma\u2019s Minimal Portraits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Sparse<\/p>\n

When Jose Lerma<\/a> encountered “Reception of the Grand Cond\u00e9 by Louis XIV” by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay in Paris, he found himself drawn to the figures tucked far behind the crowd. Known for his meticulous realism, G\u00e9r\u00f4me rendered these small characters with minimal brushstrokes, a decision that has influenced Lerma’s work for more than a decade.<\/p>\n

Exaggerating the sparse quality of the figures, Lerma (previously<\/a>) 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. <\/p>\n

\"An
“Yamila” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 72 x 48 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Nino Mier Gallery<\/a> in Brussels, Lerma’s new solo exhibition Bayamonesque<\/em> presents the culmination of his current style. The title references his upbringing in Bayam\u00f3n, 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. <\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

Bayamonesque<\/em> is on view from March 14 to April 17 in Brussels. Find more from Lerma on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"An
“Celimar” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Leda” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 72 x 48 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Clarisa” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Felo” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 24 x 16 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Ismaela” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Rania” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 32 x 24 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Fernanda” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 24 x 16 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"An
“Lisi” (2025), acrylic on burlap, 48 x 36 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Sparse Brushstrokes Give Rise to Thick Impasto in Jose Lerma’s Minimal Portraits<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Jose Lerma encountered “Reception of the Grand Cond\u00e9 by Louis XIV” by Jean-L\u00e9on G\u00e9r\u00f4me at the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay in Paris, he found himself drawn to the figures tucked far behind the crowd. Known for his meticulous realism, G\u00e9r\u00f4me rendered these small characters with minimal brushstrokes, a decision that has influenced Lerma’s work for more Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":349,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318\/revisions\/349"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thishabbo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}