Hans Lemmen (1959)

Lives and works in Haspengouw, Belgium

Hans Lemmen draws, paints and makes sculptures, including in public spaces. Small drawings made on paper prepared with casein formed the core of his work for 20 years. Since 2012, these have also been translated into very large formats, some even more than five meters in width.Several of his works in public spaces have a link to archaeology. His deep interest with prehistory began at the age of twelve and continued in his work as an artist. The finds, ideas and reflections that come to him during the long walks he takes daily inspire him and are reflected in his work. The landscape around his own home often forms the stage for his drawings. Electricity pylons, his farmstead and dogs repeatedly recur in his drawings and form an animated bond.His drawings are poetic and display humor and an ability to put things in perspective. However, there is also a threat, humans are animals and animals are humans, suffering, struggling, seeking safety.In his large format drawings, the landscape stylized into line patterns forms both the stage and the setting for the main protagonist: time itself. First, foot and paw prints are usually applied in paint while walking. Repeating, as it were, the walk on the paper. It is both a practical and almost ritual act, giving the paper a skin and a history. Everything arises without a preconceived idea. The figures are subsequently introduced. They are often transparent, as if another world is being projected on top of the here and now.

In 2015, he was asked by American/South African photographer Roger Ballen for a collaborative project. The artists respectively sent each other photographs and drawings, which the other incorporated into his own work. For Lemmen, this resulted in a fusion of photography and drawing, in which he scratched out parts of the photograph and drew on them with charcoal. The project was shown at museums in Paris Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature which was visited by 34,000 visitors and it was also shown the Netherlands. Lemmen then deepened this technique, allowing him to use the archive of photographer Tarek Ode in Tenerife. The result, ‘Terra Cifrada’ (Coded Earth) was shown in the CAJI Fuerteventura Spain, in 2021. Lemmen’s work can be characterised with the keywords time-space, evolution, man-animal, place of man, prehistory, archaeology, landscape. His imagery often has surrealistic elements but can also be abstract.

Hans Lemmens’ work has been shown in solo and duo exhibitions in museums in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain. 

 

Hans Lemmen  (Venlo, 1959)

Solo and duo-exhibitions, a selection

2021

  • Fuerteventura, CAJI, solopresentation Tierra Cifrada/Encrypted Ground at CAJI Fuerteventura.
  • Antwerp, Coppejans Gallery, duopresentation with Maurits Escher.
  • Amsterdam, solo booth with Coppejans Gallery at Art on Paper/ Rai.
  • Rotterdam, duo-presentation with Felix Frachon Gallery Van Nellefabriek at ART Rotterdam .

2020/21

  • The Hague, Helder Gallery, Roger Ballen & Hans Lemmen 2019/20
  • Brussels, Galerie Felix Frachon, Roger Ballen & Hans Lemmen.
  • La Laguna, Tenerife, Galeria Artizar, Unleashed (segment).

2018

  • Amsterdam, Amsterdam Rai/ Art Fair. Solobooth with galerie Helder.
  • The Hague, Galerie Helder, Walkabout.
  • Maastricht, Bonnefantenmuseum, Roger Ballen & Hans Lemmen.

2017

  • Paris, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Unleashed.

2016

  • La Laguna, Tenerife, Galeria Artizar, Me Flesh, You Meat.

2015

  • Madrid, Blanca Soto Arte, Hunter-Gatherer.
  • Maasmechelen (B), CC Maasmechelen, JGR-VRZMLR.
  • Eelde (Nl), Museum De Buitenplaats, Of Beasts and Beings.
  • Amsterdam, Ornis A Gallery, A Contribution to Reality.

2014

  • Paris, Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Hibernaculum.

2013

  • Amsterdam, Ornis A Gallery, Hond en Horizonten.
  • La Laguna, Tenerife, Galeria Artizar, The true stories.

2012

  • Sevilla, Galeria Mecanica, Equivocal Evidence.
  • Tenerife, Instituto de Canarias Cabrera Pinto, aun terrenal.
  • Sittard( Nl), Museum het Domein, Common Sprits (duo with José Bedia).
  • Diepenheim(Nl), Drawing Center, no reason to get excited.

2011

  • Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, CAAM, Aun Terrenal (duo with José Bedia).• Utrecht, Ornis A Gallery.

2010

  • Maastricht, galerie Wansink.

2009

  • Maastricht, galerie Wansink.

2007

  • Amsterdam, galerie The living Room.

2006

  • Amsterdam, galerie The living Room.

2005

  • Amsterdam, (Kunstrai) Galerie Wanda Reiff. Tongeren (B),
  • Gallo-Romeins Museum, a Stone with a View.

2004

  • Brussels, Fondacion Européenne pour la Sculpture, Mind the Gap.

2003

  • Den Haag, Gemeentemuseum, Na de Waarneming.
  • Venlo (Nl), Limburgs Museum, Lithomania.

2002

  • Tongeren (B), Gallo-Romeins Museum, Lithomania.

2000

  • Vlissingen (Nl), W#AK/de Watertoren.

1996

  • Utrecht, galerie Made in Heaven 1997
  • Liège, galerie Flux 1995
  • Rekem (B), galerie van Laethem.
  • Stavelot (B), Internationales Kunstcentrum Ostbelgien.

1994

  • Köln, Belgisch Huis.

Group-exhibitions, a selection

2020

  • Brussels, Felix Frachon Gallery.
  • Antwerp, Coppejans Gallery.

2015

  • Köln, Martin Kudlek Gallery.
  • Paris, Galery Maubert.
  • Diepenheim (Nl), Drawing Center, Jubilee exhibition.

2014

  • Maastricht (NL) Bonnefantenmuseum, Beating around the Bush.
  • Sittard (Nl) Rabobank: three museums each present one sculpture.

2013

  • Antwerp (Beveren), ab homine creatum (sculpture-parc).

2011

  • Schiedam (Nl), Stedelijk Museum, All about Drawing.

2009

  • Osnabrück/Kalkriese (D), Colossal, curator Jan Hoet.

2008

  • Maastricht (Nl), Province House, acquisitions Museum het Domein.

2006

  • Amsterdam, The Living Room.

2005

  • Heerlen (Nl), Weird Walls, murals.

2004

  • Amsterdam, galerie Loerakker.

2003

  • Sittard (Nl), Stedelijk Museum het Domein.

2001

  • Berg en Dal (Nl), Africa Museum, Ad Fontes.

2000

  • Mönchen-Gladbach (D), guestpresentation IKOB.
  • Poitiers, galerie Wanda Reiff.

1999

  • Sittard (Nl), Stedelijk Museum Het Domein.

1997

  • Aachen (D), Transit II.
  • Leuven, (B) Museum van der Keelen, Nature Morte??
  • Maastricht (Nl), galerie Wanda Reiff.
  • Sittard (Nl), Stedelijk Museum Het Domein, Hora Est.

1995

  • Venlo (Nl), Museum van Bommel van Dam, 1:1.
  • Sittard (Nl), Stedeliik Museum Het Domein, exchange Recife, Brasil.
  • Köln-Brauweiler (D), Rheinländisches Museumsambt, 1:1

1994

  • Hasselt (B), Kunstencentrum Begijnhof, Hoffelijkheden.
  • Aachen (D), Transit I

Collections

• Gemeentemuseum Den Haag.

• Museum het Domein, Sittard.

• Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht.

• Museum de Buitenplaats, Eelde.

• Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris.

• Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas, Spain.

• Business collections (DSM e.o.).

• Private collections (Damien Hirst e.o.).