Respiration is basic to life. The rhythmic of the respiration and the pulsation projects life into the object. Respiration forms a gestalt, a framework for visualizing the figure. It gives life and form to the figure. The figure lies dead or comes to life with the rhythmic inhalations and exhalations of the observer‘s breathing. At points in the rhythm of breathing, life stops, only to be revived moments later.

At these moments the figure ceases to exist or is suspended in time and space. When breathing resumes, the figure revives. Water is another essential element, which brings life to the figure in France Lerner’s work. The rhythm and pulsation water bring the almost dead to life.  water, the figures remain dry and lifeless. Water and breath serve to animate the figures. Seeing the figures trough water distorts the image. intention is to distort. For Lerner, distortion is the true reality. The eye of the beholder causes the figure to exist, to come to life. figure is given life and assumes meaning and significance through its relationship to the observing other.

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The mother breathes and the child takes in her breath; as she regards it, the child comes to life. The opposite are continuously at play in Lerner’s work, mainly the stark contrast between death and life. Always coupled, one figure gives life, the other takes. The central archetypal motif is that of the mother-child relationship, mother holds the child with her teeth, instinctually protecting and sustaining. The relationship is based in pure instinct. There is no sentimentality in survival. This instinctual dependency is also evident in the relationship between the older midwife and the younger pregnant woman, the young man breathing air into the old man and the child and the young girl connected trough hearing by the ear. Existence depends on the connections made through eye, ear, mouth, teeth and breath.

Lerner deconstructs relationship to its primal essence. Breathing, resuscitation and regeneration are central themes in Lerner’s intensely powerful work. Through these basic processes, life encounters death and sometimes transforms death into life. The couple relationship, as harsh as it may appear to be, serves to bring life to the almost dead. We are forced into the recognition that the life of the other is intimately tied to our own survival. We are connected through every pore of our being, trough our senses and primary bodily functions.

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 Dr Eli B.Weisstub

 Psychiatrist and Jungian Analyst