Kristina Schmidt
Kristina Schmidt
Kristina Schmidt
Kristina Schmidt (*1982 in Germany) is a painting and multi-media artist, currently based in Munich, (DE) and New York City, (USA). She assembles paintings, objects and time based media for a cheerful conversation, echoing concepts like the artist’s (especially the painter’s) questionable subjectivity, the artwork’s autonomy, the art market’s mechanisms, and their perception in late capitalism.
Diorama
2020 Terracotta, wood, cardboard, acrylic glass, stones, plastic dinosaur, tablet, stop motion video (loop) 130 x 40 x 20 cm / 60 x 10 x 12 in (approximately)
In Kristina Schmidt's works, traditional fine art materials and techniques attune with easy accessible or found commodities and technical solutions eagerly illuminate daredevil long-lasting provisional arrangements.
Group of 7 recent paintings
Brazil, 2020 Spring Cleaning, 2020 Schon besser im centern, 2020 Head in the Clouds, 2020 Liberty Painting, 2018 Hanging Birth, 2020 Cat Content, 2018 Oil on canvas 48.26 x 33.02 cm / 13 x 19 in (each)
Colorful Wheel #1
2020 Metal wheel mounted on wood stool, LED lights, batterie 135 x 63.5 x 30 cm / 53 x 25 x 12 in
Kristina Schmidt in conversation with Joachim Pissarro
Kristina Schmidt: Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix has a twisted provenience. It was planned to be shown in a specific way. The plans didn’t work out, and partly this is because of its political content. It represents a mindset but also values, both actual exchange value and cultural or symbolic value.
Joachim Pissarro: I can't help telling you that, before our conversation, I just came out of an interview for the Brooklyn Rail with Laurence de Cars, President of the Musee d'Orsay. The Liberty painting was shown during the interview in an image next to a performance of the group FEMEN.
Kristina Schmidt: A painting like Liberty Leading The People means something for the museum that owns or displays it. How do we look at this, how do we interact with this heritage, how do we transform our reality, our times, into something else? I am thinking about painting as potential value and about the history of figurative painting or printmaking, for example Emory Douglas. In my painting, I recontextualize the Liberty painting by repairing my bike in front of it [Liberty] another object of high value.
Hunter MFA
The annual Spring 2020 Thesis Exhibition for graduates of the Hunter College MFA Studio Art program represents works by 19 artist graduates of this nationally noted program. Originally planned as a series of physical presentations at Hunter’s 205 Hudson Street campus in Tribeca, but canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MFA Thesis Exhibition’s digital iteration aims to provide a new, expanded platform for young artists entering the field.
Photo: Jeremy Lawson. Video: Jeremy Lawson