Marik Lechner Delivers Big on ‘Mild Pain Guaranteed’

Marik Lechner’s first exhibition stateside promises one thing: Mild Pain Guaranteed. Running from October 25 to December 16, 2023 at L’SPACE, the artist strays away from the paintings he’s known for in favor of large-scale, brightly colored tapestries, drawings, and embroideries made within the past five years. Born in Chernovitz, Ukraine and living in Israel since the age of 6, Lechner’s Mild Pain Guaranteed creates a world of war and bestiality. The thought reflecting the artist’s conviction that “we are basically animals. We have one hand in the sublime and one hand in the garbage.”

Jungle Machine, 2019-2020, Wool and Polyester, 106 x 114 inches

Mild Pain Guaranteed, 2020, Wool and Polyester, 114 x 106 inches

The exhibition’s works pull from a range of inspirational sources that include myth, religion, nature, and pop culture. The textile works even feature reoccurring characters and symbols from the latter. Using thread and wool, along with spray paint, glue, and found objects, each piece is part painting and part sculpture that feels like it’s bursting at the seams with energy.

Night Fruit Picking, 2022, Wool and Polyester, 114 X 118 inches

Sleepwalker, 2022, Wool and Polyester, 114 x 118 inches

As for the show’s name, “We passed a cosmetics store. It was advertising all the usual things – hair removal, eyebrow shaping, manicures – that women have to suffer to be seen beautiful, as objects of seduction. A large neon sign outside the shop promised Mild Pain Guaranteed. It was funny because they were trying to reassure women that the pain would be only mild, but it came out as an assurance of mild pain. This is life for you: at the very least, there will be mild pain.”

Paradise Reversed, 2020, Wool and Polyester, 106 x 114 inches

Underground, 2019, Wool and Polyester, 114 x106 inches

Swimming Pool, 2019, Wool and Polyester, 114 x 118 inches

Demon Trapped in Heaven, 2023, Needlework

Refugees, 2016

Untitled, 2018

Yoga Teacher, 2019, Needlework

Drawing

Drawing

Drawing

Drawing

To learn more about Lechner’s Mild Pain Guaranteed on exhibition at L’SPACE, visit lspacegallery.com.

Kelly Beall is Director of Branded Content at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based writer and designer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, from Fashion Plates to MoMA and far beyond. When not searching out the visual arts, she's likely sharing her favorite finds with others. Kelly can also be found tracking down new music, teaching herself to play the ukulele, or on the couch with her three pets – Bebe, Rainey, and Remy. Find her @designcrush on social.

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