HANS LEMMEN
VENLO, 1959
Hans Lemmen is an artist whose work lies at the intersection between the organic and the torrential. Born in Venlo, the Netherlands in 1959, he formed at the Maastricht Academy of Applied Arts and Maastricht, where he studied between 1979 and 1984. Subsequently, he took up a professorship at the Academy of Art in Maastricht between 1995 and 2001. Currently, Lemmen resides and works between Wilrijk, Bilzen, and Maastricht.
His work could be described as an “excavation project”, where the landscape, animals, humans, and social worlds are the protagonists of a universe in constant flux, oscillating between the mythical and the geometric. Lemmen offers us a world where the limits between the natural and the human dissolve, where ancient archetypes meet a profound modern consciousness centered on materiality. His compositions, although at first glance may seem remote and tangled, invite the spectator to surrender to an imagined space of reflection and symbolism, where ideas of identity, customs, and nature’s expectations are superimposed in a unique, often benevolent cacophony. This unique sensibility awakens in the spectator a vague yearning for a world transfigured but, at the same time, resilient.
In the artistic panorama of northern Europe, Hans Lemmen has maintained a constant and significant presence throughout his prolific career, having exhibited in important galleries and museums. Among his most recent exhibitions, we can highlight “Chaise et Nature” at the Musée de Bourbaki in Paris and “Hibernation” in the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature in Paris, France. These exhibitions not only underscore his relevance in the art contemporary, but also reflect his capacity to explore universal themes that transcend borders, connecting the human being with a natural, enigmatic and primal essence.