Lee Suckling discovers a Kiwi artist intervening architectural space through painting.

Seeking to link art and architecture together, New Zealander Andre Hemer focuses on producing large public works that transcend the traditional boundaries of the painted object.

“There is always an issue of scale between paintings, architecture, and the people engaging with both,” says the 28-year old Queenstown-born artist, whose work has been exhibited in New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Germany and the UK.

The medium for Andre’s work is not on conventional canvas, but directly onto architectural and public spaces.

Andre’s first major project along these lines was 2008’s ‘Things to do with paint that won’t dry…’, exhibited in Seoul using paint and vinyl directly onto a space within the National Art Studio complex, alongside custom printed umbrellas (which were subsequently gifted to locals).

A project of the same title is currently being shown at the Christchurch Art Gallery – a digitally-printed vinyl which is suspended under the running water of the facade of the gallery architecture.

“These projects allow me to work painting as both static and non-static works, and give me the ability to work on a much larger scale.”

Andre’s associated projects in Melbourne, Auckland, Seoul, and Berlin similarly blur the line between art, interior design and the elements of architecture.

“The common point is a shared allusion to painting either by a visual component or the material of production,” he says.

“With all these projects I am ultimately dealing with using painting as a catalyst for intervention.”

Andre Hemer
andrehemer.com