paintings & Drawings | Michael lahr

November 7 - December 12, 2026

Why does one paint or draw? The materials are messy and difficult to control. Deciding WHAT to paint, and then HOW to paint it, is so challenging as to condemn many art lovers to a lifetime of sketching without ever actually taking the risk of finishing a piece and putting one’s name on it. Sketching is fun and can produce ideas. But it is often done only for oneself, and therefore not the same. For the painter, the percentages are not on the side of success or recognition. I subscribe to the theory, as do many in the creative arts, that 80% of what one does is marginal, and that there is a hope that there might be something worthwhile in the other 20%. And yet, since the time of the cave dwellers, mankind has continued to create sophisticated, non-verbal imagery as a way to communicate directly to the human soul in its own language.

So for me, the idea is to keep working through the 80% to get to the 20%. There are no shortcuts, just the continual hope that one’s next piece will be better.