Abstraction and Classicism. Gestural motions and realism. Pop art and Greek mythology. For Nora Lehmann, whose solo exhibition “Nora Lehmann: Corpora Nova” was recently on view at the Boston University Sherman Gallery, the artistic styles are not separate entities, but blend together onto the same canvas. She creates not only “new bodies” (influenced by Ovid’s Metamorphoses) but a new way of looking at the historic styles of art.

In Summer Wedding Diptych, two large vertical canvases hang side by side. Bright flesh tones of perfectly sculpted bodies morph into complete abstraction, consuming the linen canvases with color – pinks, greens, browns, grays – as black cartoon outlines of spatters evoke Pop art. (The spatters could also be teardrops or leaves, the latter suggesting Adam and Eve.) The left canvas depicts a man’s feet and legs against a hazy blue-and-green background with realism turning into abstraction above his phallus. The right canvas shows a woman’s torso, her arms embracing her body, her hands covering her large, sagging breasts. A mysterious arm (blurred into ambiguity at the elbow) comes from her left side to cover her genitals with its veiny hand, one finger slyly tucked between her closed legs. A few inches below, her body disappears behind the same colors as in its counterpart.

In another large work, Atalanta (a reference to the female athlete in Greek mythology), Lehmann uses a thick brush for a mix of large, sweeping brushstrokes and short, jagged strokes that cohere into a mass of unnatural and organic colors. Two arms break free from behind the mass of color – hugging or fighting the paint? – and a foot sticks out near the bottom of the canvas on an area of green paint. Elsewhere, the limbs are surrounded by black paint, emphasizing their sculptural quality and their separation from abstraction and realism.

Lehmann uses black paint similarly in other works, such as in Me Plus You. Against a black background, Lehmann has painted the middle section of a woman – from her mid-thighs to her waste, including her pubic area – pink from a fresh shave – but black paint smears against the bottom of the canvas. The black smear travels through her closed inner thighs as a thick outline. The left outline of her vaginal region morphs into a sloppily drawn phallus, with a light burgundy and splashes of red – blood? – shooting from it onto the background.

Overall, Lehmann offers a variety of viewing experiences – some more exciting then others – but she has the most success by mixing these styles, blending two ends of the artistic spectrum into one work, stimulating curiosity, wonderment, and anticipation for her next postmodern twist on the classics.

Nora Lehmann: Corpora Nova was on view at the Sherman Gallery (775 Commonwealth Avenue, second floor, Boston, MA 02215) October 30 to December 14, 2007. Nora Lehmann is an artist-in-residence at the School of Visual Arts at Boston University.