Wim Lemmens

Solo exhibition

The variation in Wim Lemmens' torsos lies in the diversity of lines that trigger a different movement with each twist. When Lemmens takes the human body as his subject, lines and movement are central. He is concerned with the lines that define the shapes; in those lines, the light is essential. Lemmens knows how to translate the impression that very specific moments make on him into marble.

Lemmens' working method has not changed much over the past fifty years. He thinks he has become more critical of his work. In Wim's stories, the romance of the studios in Pietrasanta revives, for centuries the beating heart of the production and creation of sculptures for which the marble was mined from the nearby quarries. One of these workshops, Studio Sem, founded in the 1950s by Sem Ghelardini, became a well-known place where young, aspiring artists came into contact with established sculptors. By facilitating the production of images in a special, collegial atmosphere, Sem Ghelardini became at least as famous as the great artists who worked in his studio. At the end of the 1970s, after graduating from St Joost Academy in Breda, Wim Lemmens moved to Pietrasanta with an Italian friend. For several years he assisted artists and started developing his own work. Lemmens also has fond memories of Studio Sem. “In the studio I met Henry Moore, he arrived at the workshop, took off his jacket and started working, I noticed that Moore himself could cut hair very well.” Lemmens worked with local artisans on images for other artists. He learned the craft from them. Wim can talk about the printing chisel with enthusiasm, pointed chisel, toothed chisel, flat chisel, roundel or letter chisel. About milling, sanding and bush hammering.