It was the year 2020 and we were at an apex of media saturation—Instagram posts, mailing lists, and viewing rooms. So many viewing rooms.
Painting Diary was born out of an idea to travel a little more slowly through this world; to chew the painting fat less like Instagram and more like a postcard with a 10c stamp.
We want our collaborators to take time to write, paint, and develop conversations around painting.
Most importantly, we strive to write about painting seen in real life, and not only from a social feed or press release.
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Painting Diary is led by Clare Gemima and André Hemer—two artists hailing from Aotearoa New Zealand, living in New York and Vienna respectively.
Our views on painting should be seen as highly subjective.
OUR PEOPLE
Directors & Editorial Group
André Hemer
Founder and Lead Editor
André Hemer is a New Zealand painter based between Vienna and New York. His work investigates what it means to create paintings during a time in which we are continuously moving between states of physical and digital experience. His work has been exhibited at Taiwan Museum of Art (Taipei), Total Museum (Seoul), Münchner Stadtmuseum (Munich), Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū (NZ). Residencies and awards include: International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York, USA; The Studios at MASS MoCA, Massachusetts, USA; New Generation Award, Arts Foundation of New Zealand. He holds a PhD in Painting from the University of Sydney.
Clare Gemima
Director and Lead Writer
Clare Gemima is an artist and writer from Aotearoa, based in New York City. She contributes art criticism to The Brooklyn Rail, Contemporary HUM, HyperAllergic, Frieze, and other international publications with a particular focus on immigrant painters and sculptors who have relocated their practice to New York.
Publishing Team
Melinda Johnston
Editor
Melinda Johnston is a New Zealand-based art historian who has been editing arts and academic texts for more than a decade. She holds a PhD in the History of Art from UCL, with her own writing focused on graphic art. She has previously worked as the political cartoons specialist at the National Library of New Zealand and as a lecturer and exhibitions manager at the University of Canterbury. She currently teaches doctoral students in Germany and offers editing services through her company Arts Editing Ltd.
Clara Simak
Residency and Publishing Director
Clara Simak is an art historian and writer based in Vienna, Austria. After a decade of experience in multiple galleries in Vienna, namely Galerie Martin Janda and Galerie Kerstin Engholm, she joined Painting Diary as Residency Director and co-writer. She is currently completing her thesis in art history at the University of Vienna, focusing on the body, gender and materiality in contemporary art.