Lenny Gerard: Day vs. Night Juxtaposition

An interview with the artist follows.

Lenny Gerard is a Los Angeles–primarily based multidisciplinary artist working in images, portray, assemblage, blended media, textiles, and set up. Their work explores social points, identification, and political energy by means of layered visible narratives that mix satire, cultural critique, and private expertise. They obtained a BFA in Photography and a BA in Liberal Arts with honors from Parsons School of Design in New York City.

Their work is included within the everlasting assortment of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and has been exhibited in additional than 29 group exhibitions, together with on the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (MCASD) and the Santa Monica Art Museum.

Gerard has collaborated on tasks with Netflix, H&M, Burt’s Bees, and the Academy of Motion Pictures as a inventive producer. They obtained an Award of Appreciation from the City of Los Angeles for his or her work as an artwork educator on the Braille Institute, the place they educate artwork to blind and visually impaired college students, and lead inventive workshops throughout Los Angeles for disabled and deprived communities.

After surviving a life-altering accident that left them paralyzed for months, Gerard totally dedicated to their studio observe, transitioning from a company inventive profession into full-time work as a high quality artist and educator after relearning to stroll.

Instagram @lenny__gerard

Day vs. Night Juxtaposition

This collection was created over two years (2022–2024) and includes over 120 Polaroids. Select items have been scanned and enlarged into hanging 30×30-inch archival prints for show. One standout piece, juxtaposing the Walt Disney Concert Hall, has been completely archived on the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

Day vs. Night Juxtapositions invitations viewers to search out mild inside life’s darkest moments, encouraging a shift towards steadiness and hope amidst chaos.

Where there may be mild, there may be additionally darkness. The collection captures stark polarities—lightning within the sky, arid desert landscapes—illustrating the acute contrasts in climate attributable to local weather change. It serves as a quiet but highly effective commentary on the worldwide ecological crises shaping our world at this time.

The heat, vibrant tones of the daytime photos symbolize the bustling power of capitalism, whereas the cool, tranquil hues of the nighttime photos symbolize the unseen magnificence, creativity, and introspection typically overshadowed by our work-centric tradition. Together, these juxtapositions provide a nuanced critique of recent society, which prioritizes productiveness over inventive expression, consumerism over creativeness, and technological development over real discovery. The collection additionally displays on the ecological disaster, emphasizing the urgency of reevaluating our values and the lasting influence of our selections on the planet.

Tell us about your rising up and what introduced you to images.

I grew up in a very colourful surroundings each visually and emotionally. My mother was born and raised in Mexico and my dad grew up in Turkey, so I used to be consistently surrounded by completely different cultures, colours, textures, music, and tales. I feel that blend formed a number of my inventive voice. Photography turned private to me due to my grandfather. He collected cameras, and when he handed away once I was eight, I inherited a lot of them, together with his Canon A-1. In highschool I began working within the darkroom and utterly fell in love with the method. The odor of the chemical compounds, the pink safelight, and watching photos slowly seem felt magical to me. That’s when images stopped feeling like documentation and began making me really feel emotional and alive.

Why was the Polaroid format vital for this undertaking? What does the materiality and immediacy of the medium convey to the themes you might be exploring?

The physicality of Polaroids is absolutely vital to me. I educate blind and visually impaired college students on the Braille Institute, so I feel so much about images as an object and never only a flat picture. I’ve all the time manipulated Polaroids and photographs by means of weaving, collage, stapling, and enlarging them to shift what a Polaroid/photograph will be. I additionally love that Polaroids are imperfect. Every picture comes out otherwise and I embrace that. There’s no perfection in artwork. The instantaneous nature of Polaroid makes the photographs really feel emotional and intimate, however they’re additionally fragile and non permanent as a result of they fade over time. That connection to reminiscence and impermanence is a big a part of my work.

How did the idea evolve over the 2 years of creating the work, and what did you uncover by means of sustained statement of those oppositions?

The concept of pairing day and night time photos existed from the start, however the approach advanced so much over time. Early on, the pairings weren’t very symmetrical, however ultimately I turned extra intentional with composition and alignment. I additionally realized the strongest photos have been typically recognizable landmarks as a result of viewers might join their very own recollections to them. Los Angeles began revealing patterns to me by means of structure, mild, and environment. The identical place might really feel utterly completely different relying on the time of day.

During these two years I used to be additionally going by means of so much personally, and this undertaking turned therapeutic for me. It gave me construction, stability, and perhaps an obsession that stored me grounded.

The enlarged 30×30-inch archival prints rework intimate Polaroids into monumental objects. How does scale alter the viewer’s relationship to the photographs and to reminiscence itself?

When I enlarged the Polaroids, all of the imperfections turned amplified in a stupendous manner. The staples I exploit to bodily join the diptychs all of a sudden turned life-size visible components, which added one other dimension to the work. People often expertise Polaroids within the palm of their hand, so seeing them at 30×30 inches adjustments the connection utterly. The photos grow to be extra immersive, painterly, and confrontational. The textures and flaws nearly begin to really feel like landscapes. Putting them in a body additionally makes them that rather more particular.

What drew you to Los Angeles as a topic or backdrop for these juxtapositions, significantly with landmarks just like the Walt Disney Concert Hall?

I’ve all the time been fascinated by Los Angeles structure and the way rapidly town is altering, particularly main as much as the Olympics. LA feels very cinematic to me, whether or not I’m driving on the freeway passing by means of downtown or climbing and seeing the entire metropolis from above. I wished to {photograph} landmarks as a result of viewers might emotionally hook up with locations they acknowledged. Buildings just like the Walt Disney Concert Hall already really feel surreal and alive due to the structure and the way mild interacts with them all through the day.

The undertaking spans greater than 120 Polaroids over two years. How did repetition and accumulation form your understanding of the collection over time?

Making over 120 Polaroids modified the best way I noticed area and time. I began noticing repeated angles, shapes, and lighting patterns all through town, which made me extra intentional with framing and capturing. I used to be additionally posting the work on-line whereas making it, and seeing folks join with it pushed me to maintain increasing the collection. At a sure level I noticed the photographs weren’t particular person works anymore. They have been all talking to one another, and that’s once I knew it wanted to grow to be a full collection and ultimately a ebook.

 

What position does instinct play in your image-making course of? Did you strategy the collection with a conceptual framework from the start, or did that means emerge by means of modifying and sequencing?

Intuition performs an enormous position in my course of. If I’m capturing movie, particularly Polaroid, I plan every picture actually fastidiously as a result of movie is dear. If I’m capturing digital, I shoot consistently and determine the perfect moments later. The deeper that means of the collection turned clearer over time. Looking again on the work, I noticed it was talking about local weather change, capitalism, and emotional duality. During the day there’s motion, labor, site visitors, and chaos, whereas at night time there’s a quieter inventive power that principally goes unseen.

Sequencing the photographs collectively is what actually made the work come alive for me emotionally.

 

What are you engaged on now?

Right now I’m engaged on a collection of sculptural cigar containers centered on completely different American points and anxieties like COVID-19, non-public prisons, emergency rooms, physique dysmorphia tied to semaglutide and GLP-1 injections, ICE raids, and the fentanyl disaster. I’m additionally constructing a big set up inside St. Vincent Medical Center, getting ready for a solo exhibition in October, and curating an exhibition for my blind and visually impaired college students at E2 Art Gallery by means of a grant I obtained from the Doan Foundation. The exhibition will embrace Braille labels and audio descriptions for accessibility.

At the identical time, I’m persevering with a portrait collection exploring gender and racial ambiguity by means of abstraction, and I lately launched the second quantity of my Day and Night ebook after the primary version offered out. I additionally lately accomplished a residency with The Bureau of Queer Art, confirmed work on the Contemporary Art Museum (San Diego), and shall be collaborating within the LACMA Art Parade 2026 this June.