Lehmann’s mysterious, frequently nocturnal paintings draw from sources as varied as the Flemish Primitives, aeronautic technical bulletins, how-to photography manuals, Gothic altarpieces, and radiographic simulators. The work explores the continuity of symbolic motifs over the course of centuries, but is united by a persistent concern with the iconography of the unseeable.
Prior to completing this body of work, Lehmann co-curated, with Ann Temkin, “Ileana Sonnabend: Ambassador for the New,” at the Museum of Modern Art in New York; coauthored the anthology Artists Who Make Books (Phaidon/PPP Editions); and wrote “Color Goes Electric,” a widely read history of standard test images and the digitization of color, for Triple Canopy. A former editor at Cabinet and a contributor to Artforum, Lehmann received a BA from Harvard College in Visual and Environmental Studies (1998–2003).