Thyra Schmidt

Rendezvous

“I’m interested in the use of language as a visually and spatially generative element.”

Thyra Schmidt’s (b. Pinneberg, 1974; lives and works in Düsseldorf) works grow out of the artist’s own writings, which she translates into compositions in a range of media and combines with visual techniques. Steadily switching between perspectives, the artist portrays various states of interpersonal relationships in an effort to reflect social experiences. A characteristic example is the literary fragment elle, which sparked the series of silkscreen prints Rendezvous and the artist’s book of the same title.

The titles of the coarse-grained monochrome silkscreens in hues of orange, red, green, and blue based on photographs of flower still lifes tie them to passages in elle, gesturing toward events outside the images and inviting personifying interpretations of the plants.

The creative engagement is complemented by a contribution by the art historian Marion Eisele, who discusses the linguistic and pictorial layers of meaning in Rendezvous, and reflections from the cultural sociologist Sebastian Olma, who embeds the cut flower as an “objective participant observer” in the discourse of the Anthropocene.