LEONARD LEHRER is an American artist whose work has seen "a lengthy evolution of ideas and intent." Gardens have been a constant in Lehrer's artistic and personal journey. As a young man he studied the symmetry of the formal gardens of England and France, and artistically adhered to their ordered realm. Unexpectedly, his exposure to the Moorish gardens and domed ceiling of the Alhambra in southern Spain altered his course. "At the Alhambra, there is a human scale; you are integrated with the setting, not crushed by it. Subtle turns and twists produce continual discovery, rather than predictable views down the axis of traditional gardens."

Ten years ago, the process of discovery led Lehrer full circle to the genre of collage which he had explored as a graduate student. This time, through a collaborative opportunity, he ventured into the high tech world and began creating large-scale, digitally pigmented collages.

Visually compelling, opulent, poignant, and expressive, Lehrer's [digital] creations take on the ink jet in a way that seems absolutely appropriate - squeezed out in the printing they are a liquid light. Lehrer's latest work embarks on a new artistic journey, yet one assembled from many decades of form making, process and thoughtful consideration of what constitutes an artistic oasis; and how the intellect will recognize a pleasure garden.

- Ronald M. Cohen, School of Art and Art History, University of Iowa

A passage from Passenger to Tehran, by V. Sackville-West expresses Lehrer's view of a garden as a meditative retreat.

Then when you come to trees and running water, you will call it a garden. It will not be flowers and their garishness that your eyes crave for, but a green cavern full of shadow, and pools where goldfish dart, and the sound of little streams. This is the meaning of a garden in Persia.

Spontaneous and reflective, Lehrer's collage imagery - assembled from paintings, watercolors, and lithographs created throughout his career - suggests a connectivity of experiences. The translucent nature and visual layering of the water imagery articulates the simultaneity of time - the idea that past, present and future occur at the same time - which is at the core of Lehrer's philosophy. These works, says David Jones, Anchor Graphics, are the sum of many conversations leading to Lehrer's "grand tour ... visions of a life fully lived, fully embraced, fully shared."