Lea Ellermeier is a painter and a CEO who disrupts in both domains
“As an entrepreneur and a CEO, I build companies that challenge the status quo and force markets to rethink their prejudices. As a painter, I do the same, breaking rules about color and form. Conventional approaches don't interest me.
The world presents infinite possibilities. Too many. Painting is how I narrow them down. I explore color and shape in ways that feel unexpected, establishing definitions where none existed, much like taming a startup in its earliest, most volatile stages.
A painting doesn't make sense to me until it's finished. I hold a vision I don't always know how to reach, so I push my limits, try things that might not work, fail, and start again. Some of my favorite paintings were complete disasters at one point.
Painting taught me there's beauty in imperfection, in layers that represent building toward an ideal, making progress, pausing to reconsider. Every painting is addition and subtraction, work and rework. That progression of layers builds authenticity, depth, and ultimately a visual cohesion that I can never find on the first pass.
I love color, and my works are bold. I THink that People connect first with that boldness, then discover the textures and layers underneath that hold them. each piece has motion, misdirection, subtlety. It's a celebration of the world's complexity: vivid, imperfect, layered, and ultimately joyful.”
Ellermeier is a painter of large-scale abstracts that have been sold to collectors worldwide. She has been a startup CEO for more than 20 years and holds a B.A. from the University of Texas at El Paso and an M.B.A. from Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is the author of Finding the Exit, a business memoir. She splits her time between Dallas, Texas and Berlin, Germany.
Her work is available through Daum Gallery (Dallas), Coast Gallery (Laguna Beach), Casa Costa (Dallas), Onessimo Fine Art Gallery (Palm Beach Gardens), TH Brennen Fine Art (Scottsdale), and Jones & Terwilliger Galleries (Palm Desert).