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Gustavo
Schmidt
Gustavo Schmidt on Still Lifes
Excerpt
Ann Sargent Wooster
Schmidt's still lifes fit within the tradition of
still life painting's restful love of objects, in contained spaces,
that satisfy both the artist's and the viewer's need for stable, ordered
compositions. In his work, there is a celebration of the pleasures of
the simplest things, from a loaf of bread to cloves of garlic. Essential
to his work is the seen or unseen container, first and foremost the
table and then its subsets of bags, boxes, nets and jars and their relationship
to the edge of the canvas, itself an object and a container.
Part of the pleasure of the still life lies in the
act of painting, from life, a subject whose fixity, lack of movement,
or simply "just being there" promotes a contemplative state
on the part of the artist. Schmidt is also clearly interested in the
mysterious effect of light upon material substance—in other words,
reality as given to the eyes. However, for all their stillness, his
still lifes are far removed from the idea of still life as nature
morte. They are rarely eternal moments set outside of time, but
rather embody a sense of flux and change, a quality of "just passing
through." For all their superficial stillness, Schmidt's still
lifes are restless fragments of everyday life, way stations, brief stopping
places… [proving] that still life painting is an ever changing
mirror of who we really are.
Images
© Gustavo Schmidt
Essay © Ann Sargent Wooster
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