Abstractions in Reno
Abstractions is a new exhibition in Reno at the Sierra Arts Foundation gallery featuring the work of internationally exhibited artist Nes Lerpa. Danish artist Nes Lerpa brought a pop-up show of his large scale abstract paintings to the Silver City School House in 2014, and donated copies of his book Nes Nevada to the local volunteer library, and donated a number of his smaller paintings to help fight the encroachment of open pit mining on Silver City.
The Sami-name Nes Lerpa gives the impression that we are here dealing with a man who comes from more northern latitudes than our own. But this is not the case – Nes Lerpa was born in Copenhagen in 1942, and has as the son of the painter Ejner R. Kragh, art and the artistic process incorporated in his life from his early childhood. As early as in 1960 Nes Lerpa made his artistic debut, and during his carrier he develops and expresses an unique artistic nerve, which not only places itself in a very different direction from his father’s art, but also situates itself far from Denmark and opposes many of the established societal norms.
With exhibitions in almost every country from The Netherlands to Taiwan, Lerpa can be defined to be an artistic globetrotter. Travel also becomes a fundamental inspirational source. Lerpa’s artistic production has its outlet from two locations; his studio and home in Asserbo in Denmark, and from the mountains behind Piacenza in the north of Italy. Besides these two residencies, Lerpa has travelled around most of the world, staying for longer periods of time in Spain, France, England, Italy, Lapland, Morocco and India. No matter what he always creates his artworks with great passion, that brings with it an unique honesty and creative desire that sometimes can be hard to control and contain, as we for example see in Lerpa’s use of enormous canvasses.
A sense of spirituality and spontaneity goes hand in hand with deep and thoughtful reflections on life and the surrounding world – painted, formed and materialized in Lerpa’s aesthetical artworks.
