Mike Geno and Earl Lehman Winter '24 — Kiesendahl + Calhoun Fine Art, Ltd.

Mike Geno and Earl Lehman

Cacadilla Bleu, 18x18, oil on wood

Smores Cake 24 x 23, oil on board

Epoissesj_Berthaut 24x24 oil on board

Montgomery's Cheddar Wedges, 18x18, oil on board

Island Roll 12x12, oil on board

Kristal, 30x30, oil on board

Landscape after Willard Metcalf, 33x33, acrylic on canvas

Early Spring, 19x19, acrylic on canvas

Susquehanna Sanctuary, 18x18, acrylic on canvas

At the Falls, 22x22, acrylic on canvas

Meadow, 25x25, acrylic on canvas

Beautiful Meadows, 30x40, acrylic on canvas

Artist Bios

MIKE GENO

is a still-life artist whose main subject is food. In particular he loves to paint what he calls “cheese portraits”. Yet if we consider the active metabolic process in fermentation, cheese is hardly still life. Observing the exquisite texture and layers of these portraits, we are captured by the attention the artist has paid to the details of a spectacular subject rarely elevated to art. Mike’s connection with cheesemakers and cheesemongers resulted in a creative archive that honors artisan food producers by painting the sensual details of their astonishing products. The artist, who has a BFA in Painting at Tyler School of Art and an MFA in Painting and Drawing at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, has exhibited nationally and internationally and has been featured in too many publications to list here, as well as television and radio interviews around the world. In 2012 the New York Times wrote an article on Mike with the title: Like the Mona Lisa, but on a Cracker. In 2016 he had a radio interview with Diane Stemple called “Cutting the Curd”. While a graduate student, the artist was going through his “steak period” where,while fitting the bill of “starving artist” steaks became his salivating subject. The artist’s appetizing rendering of color and sensuality of food is as seductive as any painting by Wayne Thiebaud. One can almost taste and smell the lush cheeses, cakes and sushi, reminding us to take note, celebrate and savor what we eat.

EARL LEHMAN

Unable to go to art school after high school, Earl joined the military in 1964, serving in the Philippines and Vietnam and NSA headquarters at Fort Meade, Maryland. Later he went to art school on the GI Bill, fulfilling his passion of drawing and painting, graduating magna cum laude in 1979. He is a winner of the prestigious F. Lammot Belin Art Scholarship and was awarded a place on the PA Council of the Arts and the Arts in Education Roster. Earl teaches in this program and has enjoyed artist residencies in schools and communities statewide. With a long teaching and exhibition history, Earl has won many awards. Both confident and humble, he believes an artist is only as good as his last few paintings. Earl lives and works in a remote part of Pennsylvania, in Laceyville where he built his house in the Susquehanna County woods, looking down on Tuscarora Creek, which flows into the Susquehanna River. The artist is also a poet, who has said that “his paintings have voices of their own, and hopes that you enjoy their songs.”

The artist’s work draws us into the land with his visceral, lush brushstrokes. We become part of his energetic forms and colors, taking a journey of beauty and reverence. Observing his rural surroundings, the artist clearly incorporates the myriad details of light, color and land layers, sharing with us the exuberance he finds even in his back yard. This is what we see as sincere art, work that carries us to another place, of harmony and hope, to cherish natural wonders.