EDWARD LENTSCH is an internationally-recognized artist. His refined finishes and singular style have him in high demand with many of today’s most distinguished designers, collectors and fine art dealers. Lentsch’s work is in hundreds of private and public collections worldwide. Lentsch’s monumental sized works exhibit unique surfaces and refined textures while also reflecting a contemplative element of alchemy and spiritual introspection. The Spiritual overtones of Lentsch’s painting are captured by his titles, where he uses mystical images and esoteric subjects to inspire the imagination of his viewer. Lentsch’s expansive artistic practice explores his relationship between the self, nature and the universe. From the Fibonacci sequence to the teachings of Aristotle, Lentsch attempts to create a bridge between the natural world and these intellectual canons, exploring the interconnection between the realms of science and mysticism, the metaphysical and the spiritual. "Edward Lentsch’s expansive artistic practice explores his relationshipbetween the self, nature and the universe. From the Fibonacci sequence tothe teachings of Aristotle, Lentsch attempts to create a bridge between thenatural world and these intellectual canons, exploring the interconnectionbetween the realms of science and mysticism, the metaphysical and thespiritual. He explores how these three facets are integrated within a globalenvironment and moreover how we, as humans, fit within this complex matrixof thought using the ideas of some of the world’s greatest writers andscholars.Lentsch works across a variety of media to create an ‘energy of intention’, inwhich textures, compositions and colours (or their absence) are combined. Atfirst glance, his abstract canvases bring to mind the earthen tones of Kiefer, orthe scratched surfaces of Tàpies. Lentsch, however, draws from a broader arthistorical canon, and painting becomes an extension of the life force aroundhim, a transformative experience through which he can mediate a pureexperiential moment. Flowing from a nonverbal intuitive state of creativeexpression, Lentsch bridges a complex visual language in which colours andtextures are lifted from the natural world. On canvas, they are refracted andtessellated, at times put through the process of entropy, which allows for themto be transformed and transmuted.Lentsch starts with a mastic and polymer foundation, before working withstone powders and dry pigments. Here, while the work is still wet, he usestrowels and sticks creating visual interventions. Before encapsulating the workin shellac and various varnishes, each works’ effervescence is enhanced andits distressed surface is developed. Works take on qualities of organicsurfaces, such as sandstone or granite, using an intricate network of flecksand dots of pigment to proliferate the densely worked surface. One canimagine soft, snowy landscapes of white and grey or the verdant green of atranquil overgrown pond or even the harsh dark lines of barren twigs andbrush against an autumn landscape. Lentsch’s technique allows for thetranslation of our natural landscapes into abstract environments.It is the complex relationship between what is known, or the skill andtechnique, and what is manifested, the interpretation or intuition, that lies atthe heart of Lentsch’s painterly technique. He uses the force of the paint as itis applied to the canvas as a sensory way to connect with the energy of thelife force around him. Lentsch’s paintings also use logic existing within nature;for example, the number sequences that comprise the fractals of a snowflake.This ontological approach is spurred by the artist’s interest in Synectics, amethodology that seeks to explore how creativity works by a connecting ofdots to reach a higher plane of understanding that encompasses the physical,psychological and symbolic. In this way Lentsch explores links betweenelemental phenomena and more ethereal, spiritual and magical experiences.Each of Lentsch’s works refers to a particular theory or intellectual or spiritualmanifesto. His titles are not intended to act as complete narratives forindividual paintings, but rather to demonstrate their significance as atheoretical foundation where each piece is connected to the other. His workbecomes a series of links within a chain creating an intuitive dialogue betweenthe conscious and subconscious. Just as his paintings make connectionsbetween the natural world and abstraction, it is the force of painting that helpshim complete the circle. In diving into the canvas Lentsch understands hisconnection to the beauty and complexity of life that allow him to find freedomand personal empowerment."LONDON 2014WRITTEN BY ANNA WALLACE-THOMPSONGALLERIE KASHYA HILDEBRAND22 Eastcastle Street, London W1W 8DE, United Kingdom