38 | MAY 6 • 2021
A
local artist had
more creativity
to share after
Lawrence Street Gallery
in Ferndale previously
presented his show, “Rene
Lichtman: A Retrospective
1960-2018, Paintings &
Collage.” Lichtman of West
Bloomfield now returns to
the fine arts gallery coop-
erative with a collection of
new abstract paintings.
His exhibit, “Chance/
Choice,” opens today, May
6, and continues through
May 30, including two
receptions and an artist’s
lecture. Admission is free.
Interested in art since his
early childhood in France,
Lichtman is probably bet-
ter known in the Jewish
community as a founding
member of the organiza-
tion Hidden Children and
Child Survivors of Michigan,
and for speaking at the
Holocaust Memorial Center
in Farmington Hills. He tells
visitors about hiding with
a Christian family during
World War II before reunit-
ing with his mother.
Briefly, Lichtman was 13 in
1950 when he and his mother
settled in Brooklyn. In 1969,
he moved to Detroit for work
on a documentary about
the League of Revolutionary
Black Workers, the much-
praised film, Finally Got the
News. He earned degrees
at Wayne State University
in fine arts, mass commu-
nication and a Ph.D. in
instructional technology. He
worked in nursing education
at Beaumont Healthcare
System. His family with
wife, Cathy, includes three
children and three grandchil-
dren.
Energetic at 82, Lichtman
continues to be a social and
political activist. He uses art
as “therapy and meditation. It
helps with problem solving,
too.”
Despite his history, the art-
ist never pursued Holocaust
themes. Lichtman, initially,
was drawn to Expressionism,
the artistic/literary move-
ment that expresses emo-
tions rather than external
reality. Russian abstract
painter Wassily Kandinsky,
an important figure in
Constructivism — an austere
artistic and architectural
philosophy — “was a great
influence for me, in how pat-
terns and structures evolve.”
Lichtman also admires the
geometric, lyrical abstract
paintings of California artist
Richard Diebenkorn.
BAUHAUS INFLUENCE
Lichtman has praise for
Bauhaus, German architect
Walter Gropius’ school of
design, architecture and
applied arts (1918-33). The
pioneering style developed
there continues to influ-
ence modern design.
“The movement’s
architects agreed to use
principles of classical
architecture in their most
pure form: without orna-
mentation of any kind,”
Lichtman explained. The
work of Dutch painter Piet
Mondrian, a follower of
Bauhaus, offers “the most
pure example of geometric
constructivism.”
Lichtman defined his
artistic style as “geometry
and structure, with a paint-
erly touch. My painting has
emotional elements in terms
of texture.”
His show’s title reflects “a
chance element when I begin
to paint,” he said. “Then the
arbitrary linear elements
develop, which help me make
color, design, balance, struc-
ture and choices to complete
the work.” For this series, he
explored what would happen
after covering the surface of a
blank canvas with one color.
“It forces you to make dif-
ferent decisions,” Lichtman
said. “The relationship
changes. Putting light orange
on a yellow background is
very different than orange on
top of a white canvas.”
“Abstract painters paint
from what their eyes can’t
see but their mind does,” said
artist Ed Tillery, a member of
Lawrence Street Gallery. “We
are glad to have Rene in our
studio because his abstracts
are innovative and new.”
ARTS&LIFE
ART
Rene Lichtman’s
paintings are on
view through
May 30.
Abstract
Artist
“WE ARE GLAD
TO HAVE RENE
IN OUR STUDIO
BECAUSE HIS
ABSTRACTS ARE
INNOVATIVE
AND NEW.”
— ARTIST ED TILLERY
ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
“Chance/Choice,” Rene
Lichtman New Paintings
Thursday-Sunday, through
May 30
Lawrence Street Gallery
22620 Woodward,
Ferndale, MI 48220
Receptions: 3-7 p.m. May 7;
2-5 p.m. May 16
Live Gallery Talk: 1:30 p.m.
May 16, also on Facebook.
Phone: (248) 544-0394
lawrencestreetgallery.com
Rene
Lichtman
LAWRENCE STREET GALLERY