Erik Schmidt

The Rise and Fall of Erik Schmidt
KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art

The Fiction of the Self

Erik Schmidt’s (b. Herford, 1968; lives and works in Berlin) art revolves around observations of symbolic processes within various subsystems of society. He is especially interested in clichés, stereotypes, codes, rituals, norms, patterns, conventions, and roles. He uses his own photographs as a basis for his drawings and paintings. Using thick brushstrokes and spatula marks, he paints over cityscapes, portraits and natural scenes in layers of oil paint several centimetres deep. In his videos, he often appears as a character himself—sometimes serious, sometimes with ironic detachment— questioning ideas of identity, sexuality, and gender.

Published on occasion of the artist’s survey exhibition at the KINDL—Centre for Contemporary Art, the catalogue The Rise and Fall of Erik Schmidt brings together views of Berlin as well as works created during his travels, performative role-plays, and more recent pieces. With a foreword by Kathrin Becker and essays by Krist Gruijthuijsen, Louisa Elderton, and the exhibition’s curator, Yara Sonseca Mas.