Deborah Lerner Zig Zag Jingle, 2024

Daily observations mingle with the history of painting and give a way for the work to begin. From here a variety of techniques are employed; sanding, scraping, taping, wiping, scuffing and printing, all are considered equal in the studio, all are there in service of discovering what the painting wants to be. With key concerns such as texture, light and colour always present the paint is pushed back and forth between chance and control in an on-going negotiation between content and form. It is through this process that a conclusion is reached which is beyond logical thinking, something accessible only through the act of doing. Often seeking to make visual characteristics that are lacking within society nuance be given precedence over the brash, quietness is given the spotlight, and contractionary notions are for a moment, reconciled.

London-based Deborah Lerner (b 1989) graduated from Camberwell College of Art in 2023 and was awarded a scholarship to the inaugural Apollo Painting School in 2024. She is currently undertaking a research project on the artist Prunella Clough.