Erik Schmidt (artist, 1968)

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Erik Schmidt (born August 27, 1968 in Herford ) is a German painter , filmmaker and photographer . He lives and works in Berlin .

life and work

Erik Schmidt, We shall overcome , 2012, oil on canvas, 190 × 340 cm

Erik Schmidt completed his artistic training at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences , Department of Design, and at the Berlin University of the Arts . He was able to gain further experience through scholarships in Weimar and Paris, France.

Artistic motifs

In his paintings Erik Schmidt draws on classic pictorial themes (landscape, hunting, city and travel images). Further motifs are the artistic self-image and the perception of the figure of the bourgeois artist since the end of the 19th century.

At the beginning of his artistic career, influences of Pop Art can be seen in his works , for example in the exhibition "Pop, Trivial, Art and Adventure" (1995). Motifs from everyday culture are also integrated into the later work.

In his groups of works from 1998 onwards he increasingly deals with the self-portrayal of modern people. Paintings and films revolve around existential themes such as the hunting instinct and paranoia, passion and fear of death, Eros and eternal youth, and repeatedly reproduce the artist's staging of death.

The clash between urban life and nature has become increasingly evident since the beginning of the 21st century. Inspired by the artist's travels to Israel, he creates paintings that show urban settlements and workers in the vineyards between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv . Another series of works from 2006 to 2011 focused on cultivated landscapes of Westphalia, home of Erik Schmidt.

Playing with social roles forms the starting point of his films. In a trilogy of films, "Hunting Grounds" (2006), "Bogged Down" (2010), "Gatecrasher" (2010), Schmidt traces the historical relationship between art and nobility and covers the symbolic processes, codes, stereotypes and norms and rituals of both social groups. Since 2012 he has been creating a series of new paintings in which he captures the environment of the New York Occupy movement.

Design techniques

Coming from painting, Schmidt designed self-portraits , landscape and hunting scenes. He incorporates alienation techniques ( collages , overpainting and dissolving the contours ). His landscape paintings in particular are characterized by a gestural application of paint and a pointillist style of painting. Furthermore, Schmidt increasingly developed overlays of the media film, painting and photography. In his films he examines the behavioral rituals of social subsystems and repeatedly delves into their environment. A sequence of numerous films in which Schmidt plays himself in various roles begins in 1997 with the programmatic title "I Love My Hair" (1997).

Solo exhibitions

Further exhibitions to date can be found under the given web link Art Aspects.

  • 1999: Individual group Berlin. Künstlerhaus Bethanien , collaboration with Corinna Weidner, Berlin
  • 2004: Hunting fever without an after-vision device. Brandenburg Art Association , Potsdam
  • 2005: The most beautiful hunter in Germany. Gallery carlier | gebauer, Berlin
  • 2007: Hunting Grounds. Museum MARTa Herford
  • 2008: Working the landscape. Gallery carlier | gebauer, Berlin
  • 2008: As above so below. Elizabeth Dee, New York, USA
  • 2009: Right to Roam. Galería Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid, Spain
  • 2010: Perusing the Scenery. Praz-Delavallade Gallery, Paris, France
  • 2010: Bogged Down. Galerie Krinzinger , Vienna, Austria
  • 2010: He stays for another six days. Art station St. Peter , Cologne
  • 2010: Many-faceted thing. Hoet Bekaert Gallery, Ghent, Belgium
  • 2011: Films & Paintings. Gallery of the city of Backnang
  • 2012: Downtown. House at the Waldsee , Berlin
  • 2013: Downtown. Leopold Hoesch Museum , Düren
  • 2014: Blank. Gallery carlier | gebauer, Berlin
  • 2016: cut / uncut. Gallery Krinzinger, Vienna

Participation in exhibitions

Works in public collections

Erik Schmidt's works can be found in the MARTa Herford , in the Collection of the Federal Republic of Germany , in the CGAC - Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Spain, in the CaixaForum Barcelona , Spain, and in the Belvedere , Vienna, Austria.

literature

  • Erik Schmidt: UP (Urban Posing). Exhibition catalog. Brandenburg Art Association Potsdam. Snoek, Cologne 2004, ISBN 3-936859-12-4 .
  • Hunting grounds. Exhibition catalog Marta Herford. Hatje Cantz Verlag, Bielefeld 2006, ISBN 978-3-7757-1827-1 .
  • Working the landscape. Exhibition catalog. Carlier Gebauer, Berlin 2008.
  • Erik Schmidt: Right to Roam , exhibition catalog. Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid 2009.
  • Erik Schmidt: Gatecrasher , exhibition catalog. Marta Herford, Art Association Gütersloh, Bleichhäuschen workshop, Diotima Gesellschaft eV Kerber, Bielefeld / Leipzig / Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86678-483-3 .
  • Erik Schmidt: Films & Paintings , exhibition catalog. Backnang City Gallery, ed. by Martin Schick, Simone Scholten Stuttgart 2011.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erik Schmidt on Artfacts. Retrieved December 1, 2016 .
  2. ↑ Renate Goldmann, "Alles im Lack?", In: Urban Posing. Erik Schmidt, exhibition cat. Brandenburgischer Kunstverein Potsdam, Cologne 2004, no p.
  3. ^ Eva Birkenstock, "Veiled Indices", in: Erik Schmidt. Right to Roam, exhibition cat. Galeria Soledad Lorenzo, Madrid 2009, pp. 35–37, here p. 35.
  4. ↑ Jan Hoet: "Surface on which the truth breaks." In: Erik Schmidt: Hunting Grounds, exhib.-cat. Marta Herford. Ostfildern 2007, p. 130.
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Erik
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German painter, filmmaker and photographer
DATE OF BIRTH August 27, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Herford