PRESENTATION: Erik Schmidt-Re Retreat

In his painterly work, Erik Schmidt is oriented towards the materiality of colour and its structure, which is characterised by gestural application of paint and a pointillist style of painting. In addition to painting and photography, the artist also creates films in which the performative act is usually in the foreground. In this way, the artist uses himself as the protagonist, immerses himself in different social sub-groups and examines their behavioural systems.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo Krinzinger Gallery Archive

Erik Schmidt in his latest solo exhibition “Re-Retreat” expands the elusive paradise he created with his previous project “Retreat” introducing new elements and material. The creative exploration of the German painter has often been shaped by the narratives of his travel experiences and his desire to illustrate what he perceives by the encounter with foreign cultures. The exhibition takes us on a six-week trip the artist made last spring to Sri Lanka, across the villages surrounding Colombo, the capital city where mass protests began in March 2022 and spread all over the country. Protests of people who thirteen years after the end of a long civil war, are still recovering and are now struggling with economic crisis, including power cuts and shortages of basics such as fuel, food and medicines. In “No Crisis”, a drawing series based on pictures taken while wandering the streets, Schmidt individuates characters from the flow of people, absorbed in their life rhythms or activities, and portrays them on the pages of newspapers from which he received daily national news updates. The result is an extremely expressive juxtaposition of thick brushstrokes that offers a genuine insight into the local community, also displaying the “political ground” of it, despite the limited color range and the area’s high humidity levels. Some portraits, instead, are later developed in his studio, using the peculiar technique of overpainting on printed canvas, and manifest his dynamic optical filtering of the world. Overwhelmed by such a politically connoted environment, even the painter’s fascinated gaze gets affected. Nature itself turns into a war zone in “Palm Bombs”, small sketches and large-scale paintings based on photographs of palms, captured during the residency at One World Foundation. Schmidt’s perspective gives the spectator a bottom-up view of the palm trees, which is usually forbidden in order to prevent the harm of falling coconuts. Impasto technique here overshadows photography with an aggressive streak and paint reaches a palpable sculptural aspect, transforming inner vibrations into pure, disturbing color: fruits thus become bombs, palm leaves are their explosion rays. What remains of these explosions is lying on the ground of the space, maybe fallen from the same trees, resembling weapons and hand grenades. More newspaper pages lie on a hanger, overwritten with keywords, as if desperately trying to erase the news that one is forced to read. The expectation of this Palm House being a paradise fades away and brings us back to the violent failure of civilisation. The vain search for shelter is also echoed in the two videos “Fine” and “Inizio”, thematically related to the paintings. The latter is set in the area in proximity to “La Sa­ pienza” University and features a boy and Schmidt himself as protagonists. The two of them arrive at the German Acade­my’s headquarters after having travelled separately (although repeating, at times, the same gestures) from Termini Station to Villa Massimo, through subways and buses, crossing Viale del Policlinico and Piazza Bologna. Here, during a collec­tive action halfway between a propitiatory ceremonial and a Dionysian ritual, a tableau vi­vant and a choreography, they meet and initiate a “silent dia­logue” made of gestures that are now graceful, now violent, at the end of which the artist continues his journey alone, riding his scooter through the streets around the Academy, Via Nomentana included.

Photo: Erik Schmidt, Samskara, 2022,  oil on fine art print on canvas, 70 x 70 cm, © Erik Schmidt, Courtesy the artist and Krinzinger Gallery

Info: Krinzinger Gallery, Schottenfeldgasse 45, Vienna, Austria, Duration: 9/11/2022-14/1/2023, Days & Hours: Tue-Fri 12:00-18:00, Sat 11:00-14:00, www.galerie-krinzinger.at/