RAYMOND LEMSTRA

Groningen, The Netherlands, 1978

GALERIE BART

Raymond Lemstra is fascinated by the phenomenon of pareidolia: the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning in for instance a cloud or rock and ascribing human features to it. The pieces presented at Drawing Room Madrid 2020 were made when Raymond lived in South Korea. In order to nevertheless go out and get a grip on the alienating and overwhelming city, he set himself a goal. ‘I was looking for interaction, wanted my work to have a connection with my environment.’ He chose the numerous posters and stickers in the streetscape as a guideline for the exploring of Seoul. They added a new layer to Lemstra’s surroundings. Prising the paper, the ‘skin’ of the city, from walls in dark alleyways, he then used it as rough backgrounds for his newest works.