NEW YORK, NY.- Hollis Taggart announced representation of artist André Hemer, whose tactile abstract works explore the confluence of digital and analog techniques within contemporary painting. Hemer joins Hollis Taggart as part of the gallery’s recently formed contemporary division—Hollis Taggart Contemporary—which is led by director Paul Efstathiou. To mark the new collaboration, the gallery will present a selection of Hemer’s recent paintings as part of its presentation at Untitled art fair in Miami in December. A solo presentation of Hemer’s work is also being planned for 2020. In addition to his new relationship with Hollis Taggart, Hemer will continue to be represented by LUIS DE JESUS LOS ANGELES (Los Angeles), Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (London and Berlin), Yavuz Gallery (Singapore & Sydney), and Gow Langsford Gallery (Auckland).

Hemer’s practice is grounded in an exploration of the ways in which our engagement with images has substantively changed with the rise of the Internet and social media. In a universe in which visual materials hold not only the contours of what they depict but also their codes and file properties, what then constitutes the whole of the image and our experience of it. Within this conceptual examination, Hemer is equally interested in the meaning of reality and representation; notions of depth and flatness; and the connections between the tactile and ephemeral. For Hemer, the ubiquity and accessibility of imagery in contemporary culture supports a fundamental shift in artistic practice, and in particular in the realm of traditional modes of creative output, such as painting.

Through a singular process that includes both digital scanning and a physical working of oil paint, Hemer captures these confluences and contradictions in vividly sculptural paintings. To create the works, Hemer first builds up his oil paint into thick, colorful mounds. These forms are then placed on a flat-bed scanner that is positioned outdoors and left open. In this way, the scanned image captures both the natural and artificial light, creating intricate shadows, color fields, and lines. The various scans are mixed, reoriented, and blended, so that the digital image that is stretched onto the canvas is a composite, blurring the lines between the real and created. Atop this image, Hemer paints with sprays, acrylics, and oils, reproducing the depth and physicality of the initial painterly forms that were flattening in digitization. This process results in colorful, abstract landscapes that articulate visually the erosion between our in-person and digital experiences.

"I've been following André's career for a number of years and have always been impressed and inspired by the multi-dimensional nature of his work. His process is incredibly compelling, both for the visual effects it produces and for its relevance to broader discussions on the impacts of our image-laden lives. We are delighted to bring André's into our program and to expand the audience for and visibility of his practice, which we know is so deserving of growing attention."

André Hemer (born 1981, New Zealand) is a painter, whose work explores the intersections between digital media and painting. His works embrace and reveal the transformations and transactions occurring between the contemporary digital image and the traditional painted object. His work has been exhibited widely, with recent solo presentations including The Cobra Effect, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (2018); The Imagist & the Materialist, COMA Gallery, Sydney (2018); Making-Image at LUIS DE JESUS, Los Angeles (2018); Day Paintings, Gow Langsford Gallery, Auckland (2018); IRL, Yavuz Gallery, Singapore (2017); and New Representation, Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney (2015). His work has also been shown at a range of art fairs, including presentations at Art Basel (Basel); Art Shanghai Contemporary Fair (Shanghai); and Manila Art Fair (Philippines), and in group presentations across Asia, Europe, and the U.S. In 2017, Hemer was awarded a six-month residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program in New York. He received his PhD in Painting from Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Australia (2015) and his MA from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand (2006), including a Postgraduate Research Residency at the Royal College of Art, London (2006). Hemer is currently based in Vienna, Austria.