Local Painter’s Works Featured at CV Art and Frame & Annual Brick Street Market
Writer / Suzanne Huntzinger
Photography Provided by CV Art and Frame
Some art fulfills its purpose on a wall for its matching colors or the scenery matching a theme. Some art hangs on the wall making a statement about the owner’s affinity for the artist. But, once-in-a-while, an artist and his works come along and deliver a painting which delivers on all of that.
Artist Gabriel Lehman’s works are a touchstone for all the reasons art appeals to fans, and his paintings are available at Zionsville’s CV Art and Frame. Lehman’s works will be featured at the Annual Brick Street Market, May 12, a one-day event for all the vendors in the village to feature the works of select artisans outside in their storefronts.
“It’s always exciting to meet and promote a fabulous artist,” Owner of CV Art and Frame, Barbara Jennings says. “We want to expose people to Gabriel’s works, and we want them to know they can get it here.”
CV Art and Frame has been carrying Lehman’s works for just about a year, but the artist has been painting for almost a decade. In that short time, he’s already accomplished more than many, having been named an Indiana Artisan, an elite group of Hoosier artisans exemplifying excellence in their craft of art, food and wine. The distinction was a great honor to Lehman in 2016, considering he was the first artist accepted in five years. He says he got started just doing it for fun for himself, and he landed on cartoons, eventually landing his first show in 2010. Lehman’s style is whimsical, joyous, sunny and even biblical.
“I’m a huge fan of the bible, biblical truth and surrealism,” he says. “I want the action to look fairly real, but I add just enough exaggeration and hidden light sources to make it surreal.”
Lehman’s paintings are set in a world that doesn’t include modern technology, but all of them have a story behind it to which the modern-day world can relate.
“I want folks who see my paintings to have a jovial experience. I see light everywhere and I want people to feel that,” he says. “Some will laugh, some will cry, but, I don’t plan that when I start the painting. I give my paintings fun and introspective titles to evoke emotion, and the connection it makes is different for everyone.”
The bible connection in Lehman’s paintings is obvious to some, and not so obvious to others. In “Climbing Towards the Sun,” all the characters are climbing branches to see the sun like the way Zacchaeus the tax collector wanted to see Jesus. “Blessings of Jacob” is straight from the bible and makes a clear statement about blessings and giving of yourself.
Most of Lehman’s work has been for art galleries but he’s been commissioned for specific works. Dr. Chuck Dietzen, founder of Timmy Global Health, commissioned Lehman to paint a scene for his annual fundraising event, the Timmy Takedown. The event brings together more than a dozen kids with physical disabilities ranging from Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, to amputation to get in the ring and wrestle (safely of course) and prove what they can do despite their physical limitations. Dietzen, a rehabilitative medicine specialist and former pro wrestler for five years, keeps the event authentic by giving the kids pro wrestler names and crazy costumes.
A true humanitarian, it’s important to Lehman to touch the lives of children through his paintings, so it’s not surprising that he wants to do even more to help children.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to paint a mural for children to see and lift them up during times when they need it most,” he says. “I’m hoping to do one for a children’s hospital.” Serious talks are in the works to make that dream a reality.
Lehman will be bringing about 20 to 30 of his new works to display at the Brick Street Market. Among them will be an eight feet tall original painting of “A World Within a World,” a painting about imagination and the transformation that happens. Lehman will have a good selection of original paintings and prints available for sale.
See Gabriel’s works at CV Art and Frame, 110 S Main Street in Zionsville. You can also browse Gabriel’s paintings online at gabriellehman.com.
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