Intro

EN - Ernesto Lemke is a contemporary artist, living and working near Leeuwarden, the capital of the Northern province of Friesland, the Netherlands. His childhood dream was to become a cartoonist but whilst studying at the Minerva Academy of Arts in Groningen, he gradually drifted from drawing towards painting. Following his graduation in 1997, he was immediately scouted by several (now cancelled) Galleries. Although receiving positive responses, after several years of much trial and error he ended up rechanneling his focus to co-found a progressive and innovative form of education in 2005.

Whilst still teaching arts, Ernesto applied as a candidate in the Dutch/ Belgian 2021 LEGOMasters series, more or less as a joke. During one episode Art happened to be the central theme and he convincingly won both assignments. Not only did he receive much praise for the two works he created, he also came to find out that he had stumbled on a new way to use the medium of Lego in a truly artistic fashion, in effect, painting with Legobricks, thus, ‘Brickpainting’ was born. Consequently Ernesto was asked to perform as an artist in the television program ‘Stars on Canvas’ where he won with yet another Brickpainting.

Ernesto is continuing to explore the conventions of Lego as a medium to paint portraits. The interest in his work varies from commissions, television, projects and events as well as being validated by some of the country’s major Arts Institutions such as the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh Museum and the Fries Museum as well as the major Italian Institute Accademia Carrara who all have published his works online. Ernesto is currently working on several themes and ideas, actively exploring the best possibilities to share and display his work.

News - 12 January 2022

Ernesto builds Ed Sheeran in Lego Artist Ernesto Lemke had two afternoons to recreate the portrait of Ed Sheeran (from the Icons exhibition) using...