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About the Exhibition |
"With subtle directorial control of the mood, mise-en-scene, lighting and art direction for each image, Schmidt creates ambiguous and quietly moving meditations on the theme of self, identity and 'home.'"
The Red Dress, Sagaponack, 2009  |
This exhibition and book project uses photographs, large scale mixed-media pieces and film still images to explore female gender identity as it is refracted through popular culture. Schmidt challenges our visions of a domestic utopia with "tableaux" photographs of herself in the role of a "housewife" that re-stage many disconcertingly familiar scenarios and circumstances. Working strictly in her own home environment of suburban Long Island, Schmidt takes on the social context of a world of suburban fragmentation and loneliness with the presentation of the housewife character as a wandering, rootless protagonist.
With subtle directorial control of the mood, mise-en-scene, lighting and art direction for each image, Schmidt creates ambiguous and quietly moving meditations on the theme of self, identity and "home." Drawing from such diverse visual influences as the French "nouvelle vague," or New Wave cinema, the paintings of Hokusai , Sigmar Polke, Vermeer and Hopper and commercial illustration from the 1950's; Schmidt draws the viewer into a complex evocation of ambivalence and emptiness. This layering of imagery and mood is especially prevalent in the large, mixed-media pieces of appropriated cultural imagery, drawn elements and photographs. |
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Bastienne Schmidt was born in Munich, Germany and studied art, painting and photography in Germany and Italy after studying Anthropology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet. She lived and worked for many years in Greece and Italy before moving to New York, where she is now based. Schmidt's art and photography have been widely published and exhibited throughout the US and internationally including at the National Museum for Photography, TV and Broadcasting in Bradford; the Brooklyn Museum; International Center of Photography; Houston FotoFest; Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium; Museum of Photography, Rotterdam; Academy of Fine Arts, Krakow; and the New Museum, New York. |
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Exhibition Opening and Reception |
Saturday, September 4
5:00pm-7:00pm |
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Artist Talk, Book Signing, & Reception |
Saturday, October 30
Lecture: 5:00pm
Reception: 6:00-7:30pm |
