Lanny’s sculptural works are uniquely created out of industrially woven stainless steel and copper mesh that he cuts into intricately designed shapes and flame paints with a butane and/or propane torch. He hand models the mesh creating bas-relief that accentuates the flame painted designs. Then, using linesman pliers, he connects the mesh together transforming it into three-dimensional semi-transparent constructionsoften embellishing the structures with hand-painted acrylic medium “ribbons” and/or silicone balls coated with glass frit (crushed stained glass). To finish each piece he stitches seams and edges with coated colored wire.

The vessels in this Mobilia exhibition represent a body of work possessing rigid geometric patterning and angled shaping in opposition to the airiness of the random dots flame-painted throughout the surfaces. The energetic visual conjunction of the two can suggest either the containment or the unbounded nature of the celestial universe.

Lanny Bergner received his BFA in sculpture from the University of Washington and an MFA in sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. His work is in numerous museum collections including the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, and the Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY.

His work has received many awards including a Gold Prize at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale, Cheongju-City, Republic of Korea and the Betty Bowen Memorial Award administered by the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA. In 2023-24 he was invited to exhibit five sculptures in the “Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses” retrospective at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France (Lanny with his work at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, left). These five works are accompanying the exhibition on its world tour through 2026 with stops in Brisbane, Singapore and Rotterdam.