For his first solo exhibition in Italy, the young Austrian painter Florian Schmidt, known for an analytic and occasionally site-specific approach, uses materials such as canvas, cardboard, and wood to broaden his examination of painting by cultivating a subtle poetry inspired by chance. In the three nearly identical rooms of the gallery, the artist offers several pieces that blend aspects of painting and sculpture. Carousel (all works 2009) is a painted triangular wooden structure that stands on a circular piece of canvas; Untitled (Bridge 1 and 2) are collages, comprising wooden slats, vinyl, paper, and wire; One is a painting with a large circular hole in the center of the canvas.
By reusing fragments from exhibited artworks and incorporating them in other pieces on view––for example, the circle missing from the center of One could be the piece of canvas used in Carousel––the exhibition encourages the viewer to retrace the artist’s process and to question how the media of painting and sculpture are determined and defined. Schmidt’s display of their interrelationship is not just an updated exercise in abstraction. Instead, by merging different levels of format, structure, and style, it can be seen as a forward-looking experiment by a painter looking for new perspectives on his medium. The title of the show, “Voice,” gestures toward the advent of a statement, one that has been articulated but not yet answered.
