Holger Schmidhuber (*1970 in Bad Mergentheim, Germany), professor for time based media since 2010, works in cycles. Each is characterized by detailed preliminary considerations and detailed studies of artistic processes. The cycles touch one another and yet stand autonomically. Schmidhuber’s artistic identity is rooted in the appropriative selection and the subsequent creative act that transforms his work in a very original way.
Schmidhuber’s most recent cycles “The Inversion of Memory” and “Carpets of the Forgotten” combine their oriental ornamentation and the abstract expressionist method of processing. “The Inversion of Memory” shows large canvases that are first printed with the ornamentation of an oriental carpet and then painted over. Lately he put down the brush and creates a memory of painting by pulling the canvas through paint, pouring paint, gluing and collaging.
The carpet as such is retained in his “Carpets of the Forgotten” series and (again) becomes a work of art. Painting an old carpet is not only an act of appropriation, but also a dialogue with the artistic material found. In addition to the “overpainting”, there is also an “overwriting”. Originally Schmidhuber sets the text strictly parallel to the carpet edges and then he actively pours color, following Pollock’s method. After completing his design studies, he has received various scholarships and participated in numerous artist-in-residence programs such as the Markus Lüpertz Master Class, Irrsee Monastery, Allgäu, DAAD-study trip to Israel, Residency fellowship SÍM, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavik (Iceland) and Artist In Residence, CCA, Andratx (ES). Schmidhuber has been shown internationally in over 50 solo and group exhibitions. His artworks can be found in numerous private and public collections around the world.