Annette Lea Lemke



* 1976 born as Annette Lea Hannig in Prague, Czech Republic



1993-1996 Certified press cartoonist (Studiengemeinschaft Darmstadt)



1996-2002 Studies and graduation in Music Education(Hochschule für Musik Detmold)



1999-2002 Stipendium/Scholarship - Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes, Bonn



1999-2004 Studies and graduation in Art Education(Universität Paderborn)



2001-2005 Teaching assistant for painting techniques (Universität Paderborn)



2004-2006 Member of artist community ATELIER-2 (Kulturwerkstatt Paderborn)



2005 Förderpreis/Sponsorship Award "Dr. Käthe Sander-Wietfeld" (Kunstverein and Universität Paderborn)



2005-2006 Teachers training college in art and music



since 2007 Free artist

Artist's Statement



For me painting becomes fascinating, whenever the painted canvas develops a life of its own so that the viewer gets the impression of something pulsating or vibrating in it. Although we usually consider harmony and pulse as a basic character of music, I think these qualities are equally crucial for true paiting, and I believe that they are in fact a basic principle of nature and life and may therefore speak to our body, spirit and intellect alike.



After graduating in music and art I felt challenged to explore ways to translate musical qualities into the visual language of painting. I focus my work on visual movements in color, skin, and lighting. To this end, I work with chromatic progressions, warm-cool and complementary contrasts, broken tones and semitransparent color-layers to produce dynamic and multifaceted reflections. Inspired by P.P. Rubens’ painting technique of dynamic skin and lighting, I try to build up human bodies with vivid colors and shape varieties.



One of my preferred subjects to express movement and rhythm is the “diving figure underwater”. Being submersed underwater stands metaphorically for personal transformation – breaking free from daily life and entering a subconscious sphere with another sense of time. Feeling almost weightless and at the mercy of the powerful force, the diver reconnects with his inner self, gets a sense of calm and may rediscover life with all its uncertainties and freedom. For me, putting a vision of an underwater scene into a painting, means to combine the visible gesture of body motion, the reflection of light, the hidden movement of feelings, and a possible inner transformation.