Mitchell-Innes & Nash

Michael Schmidt · March 7 - April 12, 2008

534 W 26th Street
March 7 - April 12, 2008

Press Release

JANUARY 24, 2008: NEW YORK - - Mitchell-Innes & Nash is pleased to present an exhibition of photographs by Michael Schmidt in its Chelsea gallery from March 7 through April 12, 2008. This will mark the first solo show in an American gallery for this important post-war German photographer and will include groupings of works from series such as Waffenruhe (Ceasefire) and Frauen (Women), as well as individual images from Stadtbilder (Cityscapes) and Naturbilder (Landscapes).

Schmidt's images are concerned with the burden of history and the uncertainty of memory. In his photographs of urban architecture, which are not simply physical landscapes but social ones as well, he provides a formally balanced but menacing portrait of the modern metropolis. These flawless, faceless poured-concrete forms contrast with Schmidt's stark images of German youth and middle age. In his work, Schmidt often appropriates images, re-photographing artwork, film stills and old newspaper photos. The meaning of Schmidt's photography lies in the interplay between adjacent images. In his photo essays and exhibitions, he creates sequences and groupings of photographs that tell more in tandem than they ever could apart. The rich variety of German photography is apparent in this work, which draws equally on August Sander's portraiture and Bernd and Hilla Bechers' seriality.

About the Artist:
Michael Schmidt was born in 1945 in East Berlin, but his family moved to the city's west side before the Wall went up. Trained as a policeman, he taught himself photography and began taking photographs in 1965. In 1976, he founded the Werkstatt für Photographie (Workshop for Photography) overlooking the Berlin Wall. He served as its director from 1976 to 1978 and continued to teach there afterwards, influencing younger German photographers, among them Andreas Gursky. Schmidt's breakthrough project Waffenruhe was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1988, and his pivotal work Ein-heit was exhibited there in 1996. The Tate Modern in London and the Sprengel Museum in Hanover have also shown his photographs. Schmidt lives and works in Berlin, where his work was featured in the 2006 Berlin Biennial. He is represented by Galerie Nordenhake in Berlin and Stockholm.

Listing Information:
Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Chelsea: 534 West 26th Street
T: (212) 744-7400
www.miandn.com
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat, 10am – 6pm
Opening reception: Friday, March 7, from 6 – 8pm

Exhibition Images

Keepsake
2008
Printed and torn paper, sweater, thumb tacks and mixed media
diptych, overall: 55 1/2 by 185 1/2 in. 141 by 471.2 cm.

Coffin (Flag Box)
2008
Wood construction with printed tape, CD player, speakers, metal handles, casters, vinyl grills, electrical cord and book and wood stack
54 7/8 by 72 1/4 by 44 1/4 in. 139.4 by 183.5 by 112.4 cm.

Failure Drawing #33 Red Clouds
2004-06
Ink, black marker, ballpoint pen, acrylic, stains and newspaper collage on joined brown paper
4 3/4 by 9 7/8 in. 12.1 by 25.1 cm.

Failure Drawing #252 Green Sky Red Mountain
2005-06
Ink and colored marker on hotel stationery
5 1/2 by 4 1/4 in. 14 by 10.8 cm.

Black People are Slick
2001-2
Graph paper, bic pen, marker, white-out, and acrylic
11 by 8 1/2 in. 27.9 by 21.6 cm.

Black People are That Movie You Wanted to See but You Got There Too Ate and the Tickets Were Sold Out, 2008
Graph paper, bic pen, marker, white-out, and acrylic
11 by 8 1/2 in. 27.9 by 21.6 cm.

Blue People are the Niggers of the Atmosphere
2008
Graph paper, bic pen, marker, white-out, and acrylic
11 by 8 1/2 in. 27.9 by 21.6 cm.

Failure Drawing #386 Worm in Class
Circa 2003-08
Ballpoint pen and watercolor on newspaper over card
4 1/2 by 6 5/16 in. 11.4 by 16 cm.

Purple People are the Rhyme in the Skyout Exactly Against the Red Against the Blue Against the Black Against the Glass Against the Sun
2006-7
Graph paper, bic pen, marker, white-out, and acrylic
11 by 8 1/2 in. 27.9 by 21.6 cm.

White People are a Desalination Plant in Puerto Rico
2001
Graph paper, bic pen, marker, white-out, and acrylic
11 by 8 1/2 in. 27.9 by 21.6 cm.

Failure Drawing #361 Rocket Fall, the Night Receives, Pittsburgh
2004
Ballpoint pen on napkin
5 by 5 1/4 in. 12.7 by 13.3 cm.

Failure Drawing #807 Rocket Water, Greyhound Schedule
2004
Ballpoint pen, ink color marker and acrylic on printed paper
4 3/4 by 4 in. 12.1 by 10.2 cm.

Performance Table (with Corbu Popsicle/ Hatchets dipped in black liquid and vaseline)
2009
Photo credit: Shiloh Cinquemani

The Space Between One Mask and Another and Another...
2006
Photo montage
40 by 48 in. 101.6 by 121.9 cm.

Failure Drawing #2 Celebrate
2004-2010
Ink, acrylic, oil stick, ballpoint pen, marker, correction fluid, hair, on children's stationary
13 1/2 by 15 7/8 in. 34.3 by 40.3 cm.

Negro Idea #322
2003
Vinyl on colored pvc
12 by 11 in. 30.5 by 27.9 cm.

Failure Drawing #1198 Landscape with Vegetable
2010
Ballpoint pen, marker, correction fluid, acrylic and push pins on flattened box
17 3/4 by 21 in. 45.1 by 53.3 cm.

Failure Drawing #636 Far Above the Ocean
2009-2010
Ink, acrylic, ballpoint pen, oil stick, marker, correction fluid on map
24 3/4 by 32 in. 62.9 by 81.3 cm.

Loa
1992-2001
Marker, pencil, correction fluid on granite
14 5/8 by 14 5/8 in. 37.1 by 37.1 cm.

Snow Crawl
1992-2001
Wood, mirror, TV. dvd, sandbags
117 by 30 by 30 in. 297.2 by 76.2 by 76.2 cm.

Failure Drawing #1
2004-10
Acrylic, ballpoint pen, oil stick, marker, correction fluid, coffee, paper, cellphone tape, colored pencil on hotel stationery
31 7/8 by 22 in. 81 by 55.9 cm.

Mollusk
2005-09
Acrylic, oil marker, ink, masking tape, gel medium, cellphone tape on photograph
60 by 36 in. 152.4 by 91.4 cm.

Untitled (from Natur)
1988-89/2005
Gelatin silver print
70 by 88.2 cm, framed 81.5 by 99.8 cm

Untitled
1965-67
Gelatin silver print
22.1 by 14.6cm, framed 42 by 32 cm

Untitled (from Berlin, Stadtbilder)
1976-77/2002
Gelatin silver print
34.6 by 38.9 cm

Untitled (from Architektur)
1989-91
Gelatin silver print
93 by 74 cm, framed 122.6 by 101.6cm

Untitled (from Frauen)
1997-1999
Gelatin Silver Print
44 by 30 cm, framed 60.2 by 49.8 cm

Irgendwo (Installation view)
2001-04
Gelatin silver prints
9 works, each 32.35 by 40.75 cm
With frame: 40.4 by 49.7 cm

Untitled (from Stadtlandschaft, Berlin)
1974
Gelatin silver print
19.6 by 19.6 cm, framed 52 by 42 cm

Untitled (Landscape)
1990/97
Black and white photograph
27 5/8 by 21 7/8 in. 70.2 by 55.6 cm.

Installation view

Foraging (asphyxia version)
2008
Digital c-print
Image size: 19 1/8 by 18 1/2 in. 48.6 by 47 cm.

The Great White Way, 22 miles, 9 years, 1 street (Whitney version #2)
1990
Video
Duration: 6:35 minutes

Foraging (Animal Husbandry)
1995-2001
Archival Iris print
sheet: 35 by 47 in. 88.9 by 119.4 cm.

Cusp (Kafka Version)
2010
Performance at FIAC, Paris

Cusp
2010
Performance, lumber, soil, sandbags, pajamas, masks, coat rack
Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York

Blink
2011
Performance at Prospect.2, New Orleans

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