1.- New Paris, 2017 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

2. - Minéral , 2016 acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00

3. - Graphic 2, 2016 acrylic on canvas 21,3x28,7 in., US$ 1200.00

4. - Parme sérénité, 2016 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

5. - La Boîte à idées, 2017 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

6. - Mystère, 2017acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00

7. - La Vie en Rose, 2017 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

8. - Fleur de Mer, 2016 acrylic on canvas 28,7x39,4 in., US$ 1900.00

9. - Ardoise épicée , 2017 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

10. - Fus-éclair, 2017 acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00

11. - Bleu soleil, 2016 acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00.

12. - Jeu de Nuit, 2017 acrylic on canvas 25,6x36 in., US$ 1700.00

13. - Décalage, 2017 acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00

14. - Papillon d’été, 2016 acrylic on canvas 23,6x31,9 in., US$ 1400.00.

15. - Sobriété, 2017 acrylic on canvas 28,7x39,4 in., US$ 1900.00

Originally from Castres (Occitanie), Laurence LHER moved to Caen (Normandy) in 2002. Her appreciation for art began very young and, with an amateur painter for a mother and a father from Normandy who was keen on photography, this predilection was first expressed through drawing and collage. Laurence LHER’s paintings are abstract and extremely sobre, a style akin to the Minimal Art that emerged in mid-1960s’ America with Frank Stella. She exhibits regularly on a national and international level (New York, Austria, etc.).

After practising portrait art in the minimalist spirit, Laurence LHer went on to shun all illusionism and attempt at figuration. She assembles geometric motifs, overlapping firmly articulated abstract structures, with very sparse means and radical simplicity. Spatial sensation is suppressed, contours are precise, and the palette is intentionally reduced to three or four colours at most, which are applied in uniform flat tints. Light breaks through thanks to the use of the hueless colour white, which plays a crucial role. The compositions, which are masterfully rhythmic, are arranged by combining lines and blends, and also through a skilful play between fullness and emptiness. The result may well appear as a reduction of the universe to a rearrangement of simple perfunctory shapes, without any reference to tangible reality. However, this corresponds to the artist’s wish to simplify the perception of today’s world as full of futilities in order to focus on what really counts. Consequently, under an apparent neutrality, that is to say the purely visual approach obtained through the treatment of space and colour, lies a metaphysical vision that is unique to the artist and intended to clarify life’s very essence.

Since 2015, she has had no hesitation in reintroducing the collage technique into certain mixed media canvases, and seeks to engage the viewer with short personal quotations, which add to her artwork’s symbolism. Laurence LHER thereby establishes a very personal conception of the visible universe, and privileges “ideas” over pictorial means. She offers artwork in which purity contributes to objectivity, striving all the while to convey values dear to her heart: “wisdom, happiness, audacity and freedom.”

Francine BUNEL-MALRAS, Art Historian