Raymond Lemstra

ATM Gallery NYC is pleased to present Islands, a solo exhibition of twenty four new works by Raymond Lemstra.

Raymond Lemstra (b.1978, Groningen, The Netherlands) graduated from the Academie Minerva in 2004, before moving to Amsterdam the following year. The roots of his artistic practice lie in creating detailed, intricate drawings on paper. These works led him to pursue painting, which he entirely focused on during his stay in Somo, Spain in 2015, and more recently in Seoul, South Korea.

Lemstra’s graphite drawings depict fictional characters in which actual, real-life traits intertwine with more abstracted features. They allow him to explore a specific harmony between figuration and abstraction. In his paintings he pushes stylisation further by employing a strict geometric language that evokes instant recognition. Such an approach reveals a prominent component of his practice - a playful investigation of the human urge to recognise life visually.

Starting from our facially obsessed perception (Pareidolia), which often causes interpretation of inanimate objects or an arrangement of random geometric shapes as if they are looking back at us, Lemstra is invested in rearranging the relations between the key elements of his imaginary sitters. Employing both highly recognisable, meticulously rendered features in his drawings, such as the clothes, hairstyles, accessories, or postures, alongside abstract, often geometric-based forms, the viewer is led to perceive a certain emotional charge in otherwise artificial shapes.

With the addition of carefully applied selective emphasis, similar to the one found in children’s drawings, Lemstra puts an obvious focus and emphasis on parts of interest while leaving the unimportant parts reduced or entirely left out. With a goal to inspire a sense of joy and discovery, both in his own process as well as in the viewer's experience, this contrast between simplicity and complexity results in a clash of intent, simultaneously assuming naivety and sophistication or randomness and reason.