TJ Lemanski

TJ Lemanski is an artist interested in backyard mythologies and beauty in trash. Born in Milwaukee and raised in Illinois, he holds a BFA in Printmaking from Northern Illinois University. Living in Austin, Texas since 2011, he developed a new understanding of collective action and collaborative problem-solving working alongside his friends in the art collective Ink Tank and the Free Beer Podcast, both of which are currently on hiatus. While those two efforts focused more on satirizing the art world, art events, and pop culture, TJ's solo practice strives to be more serene and contemplative. TJ makes sculptures, little reliquaries or austre monuments, often with the disposable and discarded; IKEA boxes, diesel fuel lines, insulation foam. This fascination with and use of such materials developed from his time working for Ecology Action of Texas, an Austin-based environmental non-profit and recycling advocacy group. There TJ saw first-hand the literal mountain of trash a city produces everyday, the fatal problem of out-of-sight, out-of-mind. TJ believes in Habitable Space's mission of sustainable systems, of ecological balance and justice, and looks forward to exploring these beliefs in a more meaningful way this fall while in-residence