Erik Schmidt
09 Sep - 14 Oct 2006
Erik Schmidt
Nach der Jagd ist vor der Jagd
September 9 - October 14, 2006
In his exhibition at Praz-Delavallade Nach Der Jagd Ist Vor Der Jagd (After hunting "is" before huntingl), Erik Schmidt will present a group of new paintings part of the "hunters cycle " serie as well as a 16mm film .
He concentrates on hunting as a social "game", constituting a fixed component of representation and convention for the aristocracy. In his exploration of small social groups, he is interested in the system used to stage-manage and to control his own image.
"Hunting looks like becoming obsolete, but for me it's still topical. This serie of paintings comes from my interest for the self-representation of masculinity. While following the hunters in the German forest and by using my camera in place of a shotgun, I find my subjects to paint "
Erik Schmidt waits and looks closely to the codes, apparel, locations and gestures.
This process gave birth to a 16-mm film entitled “Hunting Grounds” which is at the same time pre-history and continuity of the cycle. Shot in a castle in Westphalia and in the surrounding countryside, the film, composed with precise attention to the setting, depicts a confusing narrative which alternates between a dinner and a hunt situation: hunting like a social game, which takes place on horseback and around the feudal table.
In this film, the twofold meanings are constant: the dinner is real but at the same time staged, the characters are members of an aristocratic family mingled with actors.
Artificial arrangement and documentary perspective closely mixed, create a strong ambiguity which raises the question of the representation and the social game. The artist stages himself as an artist, a hunter and the hunted.
Everyone is shown in his relationship with the other and with his own image in self-control and at the same time as victim of his instincts.
After hunting "is" before hunting - desire and possession, his transversal themes, formulated through different médiums .
Nach der Jagd ist vor der Jagd
September 9 - October 14, 2006
In his exhibition at Praz-Delavallade Nach Der Jagd Ist Vor Der Jagd (After hunting "is" before huntingl), Erik Schmidt will present a group of new paintings part of the "hunters cycle " serie as well as a 16mm film .
He concentrates on hunting as a social "game", constituting a fixed component of representation and convention for the aristocracy. In his exploration of small social groups, he is interested in the system used to stage-manage and to control his own image.
"Hunting looks like becoming obsolete, but for me it's still topical. This serie of paintings comes from my interest for the self-representation of masculinity. While following the hunters in the German forest and by using my camera in place of a shotgun, I find my subjects to paint "
Erik Schmidt waits and looks closely to the codes, apparel, locations and gestures.
This process gave birth to a 16-mm film entitled “Hunting Grounds” which is at the same time pre-history and continuity of the cycle. Shot in a castle in Westphalia and in the surrounding countryside, the film, composed with precise attention to the setting, depicts a confusing narrative which alternates between a dinner and a hunt situation: hunting like a social game, which takes place on horseback and around the feudal table.
In this film, the twofold meanings are constant: the dinner is real but at the same time staged, the characters are members of an aristocratic family mingled with actors.
Artificial arrangement and documentary perspective closely mixed, create a strong ambiguity which raises the question of the representation and the social game. The artist stages himself as an artist, a hunter and the hunted.
Everyone is shown in his relationship with the other and with his own image in self-control and at the same time as victim of his instincts.
After hunting "is" before hunting - desire and possession, his transversal themes, formulated through different médiums .