Interview With Artist Ana Schmidt
Congratulations to Ana Schmidt for earning her place as the Winner of the Monthly Art Award July 2025 Edition!
Who are you?
I was born in Germany. My family moved to Vietnam and Thailand before my sixth birthday. Eventually my parents decided to send me to Barcelona, so that I could focus on an education founded in arts and sciences. Throughout my youth, I studied with various art instructors and pursued summer art programs. When the time came to commit to a career path, I followed my parents´ advice to major in architecture at the Polytechnic University of Barcelona, Spain. After graduation, I worked for several years as an architect in Barcelona, before moving to Bilbao, where I specialized in urban planning. Not only has my background in architecture and urban planning afforded my point of view, but also my growing awareness about the challenges that come with urban development, continue to inspire the themes of my paintings. Currently I am living and working in Barcelona.
“This Is Not Graffiti”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
What inspired you to utilize painting as a medium?
Painting in general, offers, in my opinion, unique possibilities of expression. It is ambiguous, with different levels of interpretation: On one hand, it is a representation of reality itself, and on the other, depending on its content, focus, composition, atmosphere, etc., it offers a second reading, the suggestion of a thought or an emotion. Layers of meaning are superimposed in a single piece.
Painting has a very long tradition, from which we can learn to express ourselves. I loved and still love studying the masters of the Renaissance and Romantic period, and the underlying meaning of their works. I was also, of course, interested in the avant-garde movements and the subsequent search for new media and techniques of expression. Even so, I believe that painting still offers infinite possibilities for experimentation and expression.
“Ofelia”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
How would you describe your work?
I paint dirty landscapes. They are raw and honest. My landscapes represent the texture of what was meant, not marketed, they wear cracks, errors and risk. My landscapes are patched concrete with stories of life.
“Bad Seeds”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
Can you discuss the inspiration and thought process behind your winning work?
Before visiting the place, I had the pleasure of speaking with my friend and fellow architect Barbara Dominguez. She had been at Birmingham, Digbeth for some urban planning projects and knew about its controversial transformation and urban situation. We decided to visit the place together and take pictures and sketches of the site and as expected, the district offered unique views and images of an urban environment in transformation. Light contrasts, atmosphere, the crossing elements of bridges and elevated highways and tracks, the reflections on the water, the stories painted on the walls, the textures,...provided an exceptional richness to all the views and images recorded. In search of the lost place reflects a unique lightning situation, the sun just hiding behind the bridge, the reflections on the water as the wind had ceased, a foreground with interesting pavements and wall textures and a detailed background,...
The title In search of the lost place refers to Proust's work with a similar title that grapples with the idea of persistence of memory, that our memories, of places, events, people,... are constantly with us.
“In The Search Of The Lost Place”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
Can you walk us through the technical steps of creating your winning painting?
Each painting is a complete immersion in a particular environment, which I explore physically until something catches my eye. I use photographs to create a set of possible images on a particular subject. For this painting (In search of the lost place), I explored the district of Digbeth (Birmingham), through all its pathways, bridges and tunnels for several days, until proper lightnings, scenes and details caught my attention. Before settling on a final view, I work in situ, taking notes and photographs, conducting preliminary sketches,... with all this material, I went back to my studio in Bilbao and afterwards in Barcelona, to decide the final views.
Once I have decided the general layout, I always work on a thinned base of Van Dyke red, onto which I outline in pencil the scene to be represented. In this scene, there was a clear contrast between light and dark areas, which I massed in big shapes using transparent burnt umber. I work with layers of opaque paint and alternating glazings with thinned and/or transparent paints and colors to achieve depth and realism. With this combination I always can come back with more layers, without ending up with a matte finish at the end. I usually try to keep the feeling that the foreground and background are in the same universe and get a level of detail on both parts, so that nothing feels left behind.
I always work with the same reduced palette of acrylic heavy body paint:
titan white and transparent white
burnt umber, Van Dye red, yellow medium azo, quinacridone blue violet, yellow oxide, emerald green, prussian blue, cobalt blue, cadmium red
I usually mix my colors with a gloss medium with 50% water.
What do you hope to communicate to an audience with your work?
The resulting paintings are meditations on place, location-based memory, and modern life, subverting the logic of man-made space. The observer must be sitting passively with the silence of an abandoned metropolitan landscape, bereft of its intended constructed purpose. When he confronts this emptiness, I hope he asks himself, what does it say to me?
Can you talk about your biggest learning experience during the process of creating your work?
Exploring urban landscapes in search of something that could catch my eyes, I discovered that letting myself be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters I could find there was itself an enriching art practice... The so-called dérive includes both this letting go and its necessary contradiction, the knowledge and calculation of the possibilities. I discovered the beauty of these topophobic places, where traces, footprints and the stories on the walls are elements of a collective identity. They open up the possibility of experiencing the city in a more playful, creative and critical way.
“Dead End”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
Can you discuss your biggest success since starting your artistic journey?
My biggest success has been finding my an own language and a consistency in my art practice: a process that begins with the exploration of an area and ends up with its representation on the canvas; with a reduced palette of acrylic paints, combining opaque layers with translucent glazings to achieve depth and realism, I try to represent its atmosphere, the possible meditations on a place,..
Can you give us the best piece of advice you have ever heard/received?
I would quote Marina Abramovic. She believes that truly great artists may only have one or two groundbreaking ideas in their career. She advises artists to identify their core idea, nurture it, and not let it become diluted by over-exploration or repetition.
“The Sky”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
As a winner, do you have any advice for artists who want to apply for awards, competitions, residencies, etc.?
Be in the right place at the right time. Select the competitions, awards,... that fit with your artistic practice and goals.
“This Is Not A Graffiti”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt
What projects are you working on currently? Can you discuss them?
I am working at present with a series of landscapes that are based on the sketches and photos I worked out on my journeys in different urban environments.
What is your dream project or piece that you hope to accomplish?
My dream project consists precisely in accomplishing that series of landscapes, and to be able to express through painting their hidden messages, ideas and emotions.
“Fences And Barriers”
Acrylic on Canvas
By Ana Schmidt