Micah Lexier: The Art of Perfectionism

In a work in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario, A work of art in the form of a quantity of coins equal to the number of months of the statistical life expectancy of a child born January 6, 1995 (1995), Lexier creates a portrait of a person using coins. A series of coins are neatly ordered in a box; in an adjacent box, loose coins sit in a gradually growing pile. Every month, another coin gets transferred from the first box to the other. Together, the 906 coins represent the life of an individual; the transfer of coins notates the passage of time. This work embodies a number of themes that are central to Lexier's art practice: timelines; life span; mortality; and the ordering of things and their undoing.

Lexier works in series; starting with a simple idea, he explores it in a systematic fashion. Series by Lexier include, Book Sculptures (1993), A Minute of My Time (1996-2000), Arrows (started 2004), Revelations (started 2005), and various collaborations with other artists and individuals. Lexier's interest in ephemera adds another dimension to his practice. He makes posters, exhibition invites, T-shirts, and other art multiples to create parallel lives for his artworks, extending his art practice out of the gallery and into the world. In 2010, the Press of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design published, I'm Thinking of a Number, a 30-year survey which documents this aspect of his practice.