Inge H. Schmidt
Course: Journey into the poetry of colours
Inge H. Schmidt studied Fine Arts at University of Leipzig, Painting at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design and was a master class student of Painting at the University of Arts in Berlin after leaving the GDR in 1984.
Today she is living in Berlin as a freelance artist and teaches at various universities and academies. Her work has been shown in national and international exhibitions and has received many awards.
About my working methods
In the beginning there was the fascination about the knowledge of the techniques of the „Old Masters“, the brilliance of their colours and attention to detail. Those are my roots, together with traditional drawing.
But art has something fateful about it, for me it is a radical decision in the search for independence and self-determination. When I paint—bringing my inside out—, each time it feels like a liberation, a strenuous effort against everything confining. That is why I mostly paint in large formats, gestural, expressive.
But I always stay in the representational. Ultimately, the technique is only a tool to invent new visual worlds.
In drawing I am more playful, as if the borders between representation and abstraction dissolve between lines and areas of colour. Drawing is one of my greatest passions.
In addition to landscape art, my priority is the human figur, the human being in its existential orientation and uniqueness.
Artistic formation and teaching
Studies of Art History and German Studies at University of Leipzig / Diploma
Studies of Painting at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design / Diploma
Studies of Painting at the University of Arts in Berlin / master class student
Visiting Professor for Chromatics and Design Theory at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Visiting Professor and Honorary Doctorate for Painting at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Temporary teaching activities since 1994, among others at University of Arts in Berlin and Potsdam University
Freelance artist in Berlin-Kreuzberg since 1988
USA – Fellowship for Painting
Exhibitions / selected venues from the last 10 years
2017 "Durch Mark und Beine", Philip Johnson Haus Berlin
2017 "ZeitenSpiel" Kunsthaus Steglitz with Katrin Pfister- Rosenzweig and Peter Rosenzweig, Berlin
2016 "Colors of Life" Permanent Mission of Germany to the United Nations, New York (individual)
2015 „Painting – Drawing“, Gallery Petra Lange, Berlin, Germany (individual)
2014 „Inspiration – Desert, Berlin and Marfa: Bismarck Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Marfa, Texas, USA
2013 Museum Center Baku, 2nd World Forum of Intercultural Dialogue / Cultural Ministry of Azerbaijan in Cooperation with UNESCO, UN-Alliance, Council of Europe (individual)
2012 „Painting“: State Academy of Fine Arts Baku, Azerbaijan, among others funded by the Federal German Republic (individual)
2012 „One of a kind“: Bismarck Studios – Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, USA / (individual)
2011/12 „Breakthrough“ 20 years after German Reunification – Critical Positions of 10 Berlin Artists, Chicago, Washington DC, Nashville, San Antonio, Aspen, USA (co-organizer and participant)
2011 Changeexchange, Berlin – Seoul, Corean Cultural Centre Berlin, Germany (participation)
2011 „Face to Face – Painting and Photography“, Gallery Ostart Berlin (with photographer P. Plaza), Berlin, Germany
2009 Multimedial performance „Nullpunkt“, Dance – Painting – Video Projections; with Dancer Steffi Sembdner, International Dance Festival Berlin, Sophiensäle, Berlin, Germany
2008 „Quadri e Disegni“: Gallery Mostre d’Arte, San Lorenzo, Poppi, Italy (individual)
2008 “Thuringia in My Luggage II“, Thuringia State Legislature, Berlin, Germany (individual)
2007 Church-Installation at Berliner Dom: „The liturgical colors“, Berlin, Germany (individual)
2007 „Travel Diary in Pictures – Mexico, Guatemala, Cambodia, Laos, Georgian Republic, Tuva, Buryatia, Khakassia“ Gallery Bauscher, Potsdam-Babelsberg (individual)
2007 „Painting“: Daimler Financial Services AG, Berlin, Germany (individual)
2006 German Consulate New York, USA (participation)
2006 “Encounter with Pirosmani”, Georgian National Museum, Tbilissi, Georgian Republic (participatioin)
2005 Art Lounge, Kommunale Galerie, Berlin, Germany (individual)
2005 Interart Galerie Reich, Cologne, Germany (individual)
For the exhibition project „Colours of Life“ (Large Head Series) I travelled to Mexico, Guatemala, Tuva, Khakassia, Buryatia, Altai Mountains, Xinjiang (China), Eastern Tibet, Wakhan Corridor (Afghanistan), Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, United Arab Emirates
Please find more about Inge H. Schmidt under www.ihs-art.com