Lenz Geerk

Lenz Geerk was born in 1988 in Basel, Switzerland. He lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany.


Geerk’s paintings feel like revelations - intimate, emotionally charged scenes that seem to float outside of time. While his approach is steeped in art history, there’s something unmistakably personal in the way he paints. The figures that inhabit his canvases often come from dreams or daydreams, their gestures and poses shaped more by feeling than by any real-life model.


He builds his compositions around subtle shifts in body language - a slouched shoulder, a glance held too long - small details that carry the weight of something unspoken. His palette is typically restrained, washed in pastel tones, occasionally punctuated by warmer accents. The atmosphere is thick, sometimes tense, but never loud.


Geerk’s focus is solitude, not loneliness, but a kind of introspective pause. His figures sit with themselves, and in doing so, invite the viewer to do the same. There’s often a flicker of humour or tenderness too, as if the painting knows something it’s not quite saying. In his paintings, Geerk captures the essence of our condition, exploring the depths of the psyche and the complexities of human emotion.

Films & Dialogues

Biography

Solo exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
CH, lautlos, Domushaus, Basel
UK, Forthcoming, MASSIMODECARLO, London
USA, Schwarzweiß, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
2024
NL, Sleep!, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
2022
IT, Moonpaintings, MASSIMODECARLO, Milano
CA, Arrival, Roberts Projects, Los angeles
2020
UK, Sleepless, Mamoth, London
USA, Wuthering Heights, Roberts Projects (Online exhibition), Los Angeles
2019
USA, Mixed Blessings, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
2018
I, Pears & Pearls, Galleria Acappella, Napoli
USA, The Table Portraits, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
CA, Wywh, The Cabin, Los Angeles
2017
MEX, Nudo, Galeria Mascota, Mexico City
F, Crying, Spitting, Sweating, Galerie Valentin, Paris
2016
NL, Lotion, Gerhard Hofland Gallery, Amsterdam
2015
D, Closer, Stadtische Galerie Stapflehus, Kunstverein Weil am Rhein
D, Jäger, dst Galerie, Munster
CDN, The O, Mark Christopher Gallery, Toronto
2014
D, Omen with Jurgen Malcherek, Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Dusseldorf
2012
D, Teenage Angst, Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Dusseldorf
2011
D, Fruhlings Erwachen, Anna Klinkhammer Galerie, Dusseldorf
Group exhibitions
Year
Country, Exhibition Name, Location
2025
D, STORIES OF YOUR LIVES, Galerie Max Hetzler, Berlin
USA, Portraits Revealed | Featuring Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe and Lenz Geerk, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
USA, Back To the Earth, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
PRC, Mystical Me, The Corridor Foundation, Shenzhen
IL, and yet:, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
F, Seven Heavenly Senses, Ai Thani Collection, Paris
2024
USA, On Alchemy, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
PRC, Intimacy rarely makes sense of things, Shanghai Pond Society, Shanghai
NL, Sleep!, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort
D, STREETSPACE BANGER, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen, Recklinghausen
P, The Hollow and the Receptive, ADZ, Lisbon
USA, Studiolo, Adler Beatty, New York
2023
I, ORIZZONTI Curated by Cloe Perrone, Daniele Fenaroli, Casa Masaccio | Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea, San Giovanni Valdarno
2022
CH, Highlights of the Collection, The Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
UK, My Reflection of You, The Perimeter, London
F, The Drawing Centre Show, Le Consortium, Dijon
F, In Bloom, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
USA, Uncanny Interiors, Nicola Vassel Gallery, New York
2021
I, Life in Flowers, Luce Gallery, Torino
UK, Breakfast Under the Tree Curated by Russell Tovey, Carl Freedman Gallery, Margate
F, Lenz Geerk, Rute Merk, Alexis Ralaivao, Hussenot Galerie, Paris
USA, Salon de Peinture, Almine Rech, New York
Go Figure!?, Spruth Magers OVR
D, Sleep, Haverkampf Galerie, Berlin
I, Portraiture One Century Apart, MASSIMODECARLO, Milano
BE, Poisonous Kiss. Lovely Venom, Tick Tack, Antwerp
PRC, New Now, Xiao Foundation, Rizhao
F, Portraiture One Century Apart, MASSIMODECARLO Pièce Unique, Paris
NL, Equal Affections, GRIMM, Amsterdam
2020
USA, Wish You Were Here, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
CA, Wuthering Heights, Roberts Projects, Los Angeles
CA, The Edge of Blue, Gallery Platform Los Angeles, Los Angeles

Public collections

Country
Location
China
HEM Museum, Shunde
X Museum, Shanghai
XIAO Museum, Shandong
Longlati Fondation, Beijing
Corridor Foundation, Hong Kong
Cloud Art Foundation, Nanjing
France
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris
Israel
Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
Italy
Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin
Japan
Comico Art Museum, Oita
Norway
Kistefos Museum, Oslo
Puerto Rico
Up Next Art, Vega Baja
South Korea
Amorepacific Museum, Seoul
Switzerland
The Kunsthaus Zürich, Zürich
United Arab Emirates
The Arts Club Dubai, ICD Brookfield Place, DIFC, Dubai
United States of America
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.
Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Denver Art Museum, Denver

Downloads

Type
Title
CV
Lenz Geerk