André Hemer (New Zealand-German, b. 1981) is a painter who explores the intersections between digital media and painting, using light to bind elements together. He works in bodies of paintings linked through scans of three-dimensional paint. The images he chooses are tied to the light conditions of the place where they were scanned. He describes his paintings as representations of image and materiality, some parts showing traces of digital transactions.
Hemer completed a PhD in painting at the University of Sydney in 2015 and an MFA at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch. He has suggested that the geographical distance of Australia and New Zealand from major art discourses is why many artists from that region work with digital narratives. During a two-month residency at the Villa Lena Foundation in Tuscany in 2015, he spent afternoons scanning the sky and watching how light altered images. He says that searching out the peculiarities of place has driven his practice ever since.
