"Petra Lemmerz shows a sea of colors, the large canvases with strong colors put us in a cheerful mood," said KWS Executive Board member Eva Kienle, who was particularly pleased to be able to welcome visitors to a vernissage at the Biotechnikum again after two years with only limited possibilities. Kienle thanked the artist for sharing her passion for color and imagination with viewers through her art.
The series of works that Petra Lemmerz presents at KWS' Biotechnikum follow a painting language that is known in art as abstract expressionism. At the opening of the exhibition, art historian Michael Stoeber (Hanover) explained what this means, and, above all, what exciting stories inspired the artist to create each individual series.
In abstract expressionism, he said, emotion and spontaneity were more important than reason and regimentation. Such painting was highly individualistic and self-determined, which also corresponded to the life credo of Petra Lemmerz, said Michael Stoeber. "When she paints, she sees and experiences the world in a deeper way, oblivious to herself. For her, painting seems to be a ritual in which she copes in joyful passion with the hard school of life, without losing her love for life," the art historian explained. “That is the equally compelling and irresistible narrative of her art."
Petra Lemmerz had always painted abstractly, he said. Her paintings, which could be interpreted as a whole series as well as individual works, had an anarchic temperament that released emotions. Everyone could try to describe the colors and forms for themselves, said Stoeber, which wasn't difficult "because Lemmerz' images have the power to summon other images." The works spoke to viewers with openness and invited them to make sense of them, the art historian said.
Petra Lemmerz, born in Karlsruhe in 1957, studied philosophy, literature, and ethnology at the University of Tübingen, followed by art history, architectural history, and literary history at the University of Karlsruhe after periods abroad in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Thailand. This was followed by studies in art education, literary studies, and religious studies at the Gesamthochschule Kassel from 1983 to 1988. From 1986 to 1988 she also studied free painting at the Kunstakademie Stuttgart (Prof. Sonderborg, Prof. E. Mansen). From 1991 to 1994 Petra Lemmerz led the nude drawing class at the free art school Schwäbisch Hall, from 2000 to 2002 she had a teaching position for painting at the University of Applied Sciences for Design Pforzheim. 20 years ago she moved from Stuttgart to Düsseldorf and now lives there and in Italy (Castelnuovo d`Elsa).
Petra Lemmerz opened her first exhibition in Stuttgart in 1987. Since then, she has exhibited annually in various galleries in Germany and Italy. She has also been represented with her works in numerous group exhibitions.
A catalog of the works shown at KWS has been published to accompany the exhibition "Floating Substances." There will be guided tours of the exhibition in May and July.
