Warren Lehrer is an American author and artist/designer known mostly for his highly visual books and multimedia projects. Lehrer came to prominence in the 1980s and 90s for his attempts at capturing the shape of thought and speech on the printed page in his books and performance scores characterized by polyvalent narratives and expressionistic typography. His most recent book, A Life in Books: The Rise and Fall of Bleu Mobley, is an "illuminated novel" that contains 101 books within it. In November 2019, Lehrer received the Lifetime Achievement in Czech Republic. for “his pioneering work in Visual Literature and Design.” Named after the Czech-American design pioneer, the annual award “recognizes individual artists from around the world of outstanding performance in the field of fine arts, especially applied arts and design.
Life and work
Lehrer was born in 1955 and raised in Queens, New York. He is the son of Arthur and Ruth Lehrer, brother of broadcast journalist Brian Lehrer, and married to author and performer Judith Sloan. Lehrer received his BA from Queens College, CUNY, and an MFA from Yale University. He is a full professor at the School of Art and Design at Purchase College, SUNY, and a founding faculty member of the "Designer As Author" graduate program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Together with Judith Sloan, Lehrer founded EarSay Inc. in 1999, an artist-driven, non-profit arts organization in Queens, NY. Lehrer is profiled as a pioneer practitioner of design authorship and visual literature in numerous books and feature articles on graphic design, typography, book arts, and experimental literature. His work explores the vagaries and luminescence of character, the relationships between social structures and the individual, and the pathos and absurdity of life. His projects, some fiction, some non-fiction, bridge the divide between documentary and expressive forms. His work tackles subjects such as the immigrant experience, the line between madness and brilliance, war and peace, and the creative process. Lehrer has received many awards for his books and projects, including the 2019 and the for his collaborative project, Five Oceans in a Teaspoon with poetry by Dennis J. Bernstein, the 2015 International Book Award for Best New Fiction, the 2014 IPPY Outstanding Book of the Year Award for Most Original Concept, the 2014 USA Book Award for Best New Fiction, the 2004 Brendan Gill Prize, The 2003 Innovative Use of Archives Award, three American Institute for Graphic Arts Book Awards, The International Book Design Award, a Best of the Best Award from the New York Book Show, a National Indie Book Award, and a Prix Arts Electronica Award. He is a 2016 Honoree of the Center for Book Arts for being "a pioneer in visual literature and design authorship" and for "extending the field of book arts to the broader worlds of contemporary art and literature." He is also the recipient of fellowships and grants from The National Endowment for the Arts, The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York Foundation for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Greenwall Foundation, The Furthermore Foundation, and others. His work has been exhibited widely and is in many collections including the Museum of Modern Art, Brooklyn Museum, L.A. County Art Museum, The Getty Museum, Georges Pompidou Centre, and Tate Gallery. The Crossing the BLVD exhibition premiered in 2003 at The Queens Museum of Art and has traveled to fourteen other museums and galleries throughout the United States. Lehrer is a frequent lecturer and presenter at universities, art centers, and bookstores, and has been keynote speaker/performer at conferences on book arts, design and oral history, most recently as keynote speaker at the 2013 NY Art Book Fair Contemporary Artists Book Conference at PS1 MoMA NY. Lehrer's performances and plays have been performed at venues including La MaMa Experimental Theatre, The Knitting Factory, Independent Art at Here, The Painted Bride, The LaGuardia Performing Art Center, The Market Theatre and The Theatre Workshop. Since 2009, Lehrer has been setting stories and text into animation, video, and interactive media, and is working on an enhanced ebook edition of A Life In Books.
