Erik Schmidt – Follow the Markings
Marta Herford and the HDZ North Rhine-Westphalia Heart and Diabetes Center in Bad Oeynhausen are beginning a unique collaboration in 2019. It focuses on exhibitions on the clinic premises, allowing international contemporary art to enter into dialogue with people in the healthcare system.
Exhibition opening
Erik Schmidt: Follow the Markings
Opening Thursday, May 2, 2019, 3.30 pm
Greeting Dr. Karin Overlack, Managing Director
Introduction Roland Nachtigäller, Director Marta Herford
The artist is present. A catalogue has been published to tie in with the exhibition.
Art and Culture Forum Heart and Diabetes Centre NRW,
Georgstr. 11, 32545 Bad Oeynhausen
Duration 2 May to 2 September 2019
“Follow the Markings”“
The exhibition at the HDZ North Rhine-Westphalia Heart and Diabetes Center brings together three major themes in the oeuvre of Erik Schmidt. His pictures of cables, power masts, and people in the metro came about when he was in Tokyo (from 2016). In New York, he observed the demonstrations of the Occupy movement (from 2012). And his latest paintings are devoted to streetscapes and houses in Berlin (from 2018). Schmidt’s pictures are usually created on the basis of his own photographs, which he translates into a new visual form on the canvas with powerful, gestural brushstrokes. His motifs often only come together in the eye of the viewer. In addition, Schmidt works on thematic film projects, in which the main characters (played by the artist himself) are often on a quest for meaning and structure in an everyday world that appears alien. In his latest works, Erik Schmidt takes his photographs literally as the basis for his pictures, painting impasto directly onto the fine art prints transferred to canvas.
Erik Schmidt
was born in 1968 in Herford and today lives in Berlin. After his studies in Hamburg and at Berlin University of the Arts, his unusual painting style soon gained him international attention. His first museum exhibition, “Hunting Grounds” (2007) at Marta Herford, also became the starting point for his “Westphalian Trilogy.” In three video projects, Schimidt tackled themes such as the search for a home, the artist’s existence, identity, sickness, and healing. His works have been on show in recent years in numerous galleries and museums, including in Germany, Tokyo, Mumbai, New York, Zurich and Taipei.
Cooperation with the HDZ NRW
For many years now, the HDZ North Rhine-Westphalia Heart and Diabetes Center has been pursuing the idea of combining medicine and culture to create a forum for contemporary art. This is based on the idea that a stimulating environment and interaction with art can support the healing process, promote communication, and create new perspectives. After many exhibition projects since 1989, most recently under the direction of its former managing director, Prof. Otto Foit, in early 2019 the clinic embarked upon a unique process of cooperation with Marta Herford, with professional exhibitions featuring outstanding artists held on the clinic’s premises once or twice a year. The exhibition “Follow the Markings” by Erik Schmidt is the dazzling prelude to this. The presentations are also accompanied by music recitals, readings, and information sessions on health issues for not only patients and relatives but also the general public.
