_photograms: metaphysical x-rays
Perfection is boring. Many of her photograms look like poorly done prints – Claudia Schmölders is playing with our perception by supporting, with these torn impressions, what does not appear in its visible form. The portrait has so far been the central subject of her metaphysical x-rays. A strong affinity with symmetry and paired objects is apparent in her work as well as the play with different sizes. In the end it’s all about the human being though.
The legendary Jazz singer Jimmy Scott once said that artists must never lose their weaknesses, otherwise they will lose their innocence. It’s these weaknesses that you silently perceive and try to make visible – while exploring your own weaknesses and strengths. There is nothing that is more fascinating, more disappointing, more caring, more ruthless, more confusing, more stupid, more intelligent and more mysterious than the human being. It’s the little imperfections that captivate. Not the faces on the covers that have been retouched to death and from whose cold surfaces our look bounces into vacuousness.
_rockin’ on paper
Music as one of her main subjects in her work became even more apparent, when, after she had already published a calendar with her drawings of British band Suede in 1995, she made some of her drawings of Welsh band Manic Street Preachers available to London conceptual artist Jeremy Deller (winner of the English Turner Prize 2004) for his project „The Uses Of Literacy“ – an exhibition which displayed art about the Manics, who, in their music, have always been emphasizing the importance of art and literature. The exhibition toured through England and Wales until the end of 1998 (with publications in SELECT magazine and the corresponding book of the exhibition, which was issued by Deller in 1999). “The Uses Of Literacy” was also represented at the BIM 2001 (the 9th Biennial of Moving Images organised by Centre pour l’image contemporaine) in St-Gervais/Geneva, Switzerland, as well as at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England in 2009. “The Uses Of Literacy” is now owned by the Arts Council in England. A very safe and prestigious home as Deller, who will be representing Great Britain at the Biennial in Venice in the summer of 2013, reported.
In order to introduce her drawings of different bands and artists to a wider audience on a regular basis, and in order to pursue her interest in journalism, she started to launch her publication “carpe diem” in 1996 – a music fanzine published in English, which had readers in 20 countries and which was turned into a website in 2002. Within the framework of this alternative publication she interviewed indie/alternative artists like Placebo, James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers, Sneaker Pimps, Dream City Film Club, Michael J. Sheehy, United as well as the French producer Dimitri Tikovoi and others. Placebo’s bassist Stefan Olsdal even wrote an exclusive tour diary for “carpe diem”, when the band were touring their “Black Market Music” album worldwide in 2001. The fanzine even made it on TV, when Markus Kavka presented it in his then cult show “2Rock”.
It was in 2002 that she experimented more extensively with photograms in the darkroom and that she was developing her very own style. She did many photograms for Dimitri Tikovoi, the man behind ‘Trash Palace’ and producer of Placebo’s album ‘Meds’. Together with a graphic designer she was also initially responsible for the first version of the official TP website.
With Placebo, whom she had seen live for the first time when they were doing support for David Bowie in Switzerland in February 1996, she had developed a continuous contact and friendship over the years. She has seen Placebo live more than 70 times in all sorts of countries and cities, whether that was Amsterdam, New York, Warsaw or elsewhere. She always had her camera with her for “carpe diem”, also at other bands’ concerts. In 2004 she was commissioned by Placebo to take backstage and on-stage shots of them at Leeds and Reading, two of the UK’s biggest festivals. Quote Stefan Olsdal, “You capture us beautifully and I think our personalities really come out.” Later London’s Wembley Arena followed.
In time for the 30th birthday of Placebo’s bassist Stefan Olsdal in 2004, Claudia Schmölders created ‘THE STEFBOX’ – a box containing a collection of 30 photograms which portrait Olsdal. The photograms impressed to such an extent, that even Olsdal’s parents from Sweden joined the clientele.
Series of photograms aside the subject music followed.
_subjectively OBJECTive
Since the death of her parents in 2007 Claudia Schmölders also works three-dimensionally with her objects series IDENTIFICTION, which works through themes such as transience, decay and loss. She makes a point of processing fancy single parts in her objects that are mostly old and have a soul – things that have been through a lot, that possess character and a story. These aesthetics of “flaws” refer thoroughly a little to the component of the Japanese aesthetics Wabi-sabi, which represents the complete opposite to the values of the western world ruled by commerce, like perfection, continuance and grandeur. For the benefit of inner values, Wabi-sabi refrains from outer pomp.
Generally Claudia Schmölders doesn’t like to commit herself to just one medium and she doesn’t like to be pigeonholed. Her statements can be transported in many ways and the idea points the way.
Anything is possible !
All her photograms are handmade darkroom works and have not been created digitally.