Lena Schmidt
Reinbek
About Lena Schmidt
Lena Schmidt presents us with mystical moments in her work. She shows moments in which there appears to be a tear in the fabric of reality, in which an abandoned intersection suddenly becomes an intermediary space, or a peculiar atmosphere permeates an industrial wasteland. The artist, who lives in Hamburg and works in Reinbek, finds her inspiration in her immediate surroundings, so it’s not surprising that the motifs found in her work seem strangely familiar.
What is less familiar, though, is the material she uses and her technique. Lena Schmidt creates her images on wood and in wood. Using an axe, burin, or a carpenter’s plane, she works her way into the surface, using the structure of the wood as an additional pictorial element. Further structures and color planes are produced with a bamboo pen and ink, as well as a variety of primer coats. The interplay between all of these components ultimately results in images that impress viewers with their unique aesthetic just as much as the places bathed in twilight.
Lena Schmidt (*1981) studied at the HfBK Hamburg from 2004 to 2011 under Prof. Matt Mullican and Mari Jose Burki. From 2016 to 2020, she completed a degree in Communication Design at the HAW Hamburg. As a grant-winner of the “Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes” (German Academic Scholarship Foundation), she was funded from 2007 to 2010. In the following years she took part in the Fountainhead Residency Program twice in Miami, USA. Lena Schmidt’s work has been shown in numerous exhibitions in recent years, including a solo exhibition at the Kunstverein Stade as well as countless group shows.