Kris Lemsalu

Kris Lemsalu

BornNationalityBased In
1985EstonianBerlin
Biography

Kris Lemsalu’s practice is filled with eccentric colours, shamans, talismans, kitsch imagery and materials such as clothing, food and animal pelts. Working in installation, sculpture and performance, the Estonian artist’s works deny categorization and invite ritualistic catharsis of life and death, beauty and pain. Mimicking the formlessness of life itself, her works and performances transcend structure into absurdist mix of textures and materials; with cheap rubber bags being attached to precious porcelain, a toothbrush burning between the artist’s lips or a chicken-eggs-chandelier hanging between her legs. Lemsalu’s exquisite use of her body as a material alongside the strangeness of her inanimate objects blends the very distinction between herself, her art and life, more broadly. Fairy tales and folklore, fantasy and reality become indistinguishable in the artist’s universe of kitsch and absurdity. With no beginning or end, Lemsalu’s practice is a metamorphosis in action. ...

Selected Artworks
Give Us A Song
Kris LemsaluGive Us A Song, 2022
167.6 x 139.7 x 226.1cm
Immaterial Material Love
Mother of Stilts
Kris LemsaluMother of Stilts, 2022
53.3 x 55.9 x 22.9cm
Artist Statement
Immaterial Material Love
Put the lime in the coconut
A from VITA
Kris LemsaluA from VITA, 2024
139.7 x 92.7 x 15.2cm
Birthday Invite
Edith and Vilma
Goodbye New York
Heart on a Cross
Jaws of Joys
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Juicy Couture
Kissers
Kris LemsaluKissers, 2023
46 x 36 x 4cm
Lust
Kris LemsaluLust, 2023
46 x 36 x 4cm
Memory
Kris LemsaluMemory, 2022
54.6 x 58.4 x 15.2cm
Night Waiting for the Day
Out of the Blue
Put the lime in the coconut
Rooster on the Beach
T from VITA
Kris LemsaluT from VITA, 2024
139.7 x 92 x 15.24cm
Wave
Kris LemsaluWave, 2024
52.1 x 52.1 x 7.6cm
Wound Licker
Biennals
Performa2017 - New York City
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