Alke Schmidt
My art practice is an ongoing exploration of the subversive potential of art's aesthetic dimension. Fusing the roles of the artist as maker and critical citizen, I aim to create seductively beautiful works that challenge environmental and social injustices. I wish to engage the viewer by stealth, often by subverting and disrupting ideas of decorative and aesthetic pleasure. Through the use of media and colour I seek to heighten the tensions created by the coexistence of subject matter and final image, combining traditional with modern media and incorporating found fabrics, images, and text.
Solo exhibitions
2021 Justice, Freedom & Bread, Rydals Museum, Sweden
2020 Pandemic Spring, PontArte Gallery, Maastricht, Netherlands
2018 - Alke Schmidt: Wonder and Dread, Bradford Industrial Museum
2017 - Tangled Yarns, The People's History Museum, Manchester
2016 - Tangled Yarns, Salts Mill, Saltaire Arts Trail, Yorkshire
2015 - Tangled Yarns, Cromford Mills, Derbyshire
2014/15 - Alke Schmidt: Tangled Yarns, William Morris Gallery, London
2012 - Alke Schmidt - New Paintings, Penny Fielding Gallery, London
2010 - Feeding the Monster, Signal Gallery, London
2009 - Witness, Quaker Meeting House Walthamstow, London
2005 - Interesting Times, Salon des Arts, London
2004 - What's going on, Salon des Arts, London
Curating
2019 - SWARM: Artists respond to the pollinator crisis, Vestry House Museum, London
Two/three artists collaborations
2023 - Tastbaar/Tangible (with Greet Weitenberg), PontArte Gallery, Maastricht
2012 - SPILL (with Della Rees), The Stone Space, London
2006 Notes in the Margin (with Liz Ellis & Cinzia Cremona), Vestry House Museum, London
2002 - CRISIS (with Jess Hurd), The Foundry, London
Selected group exhibitions
2024 - The Tipping Point, Bell House, London
2024 - Textiles Open, No Format Gallery, London
2023 - Wintersalon, PontArte, Maastricht
2022 - Seed Planting Art, Svalbard Global Seed Vault and Svalbard Museum, Norway
2022 - Paisley - A Princely Pattern, Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem
2021 - HYDRACITY, Thames-Side Studios Gallery, London
2019 - SWARM: Artists respond to the pollinator crisis, Vestry House Museum, London
2018 - Reading Between the Limes, Winns Gallery, London
2017 - Threads, Espacio Gallery, London
2017 - Touring exhibition: Selected works from "Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art", various venues, USA
2016 - 100x Madonna, Crypt Gallery, London
2016 - The Art of Conflict, Gnome House, London
2015 - Misbehaviour, Art Pavillion, London
2014 - Why War? Freud Museum, London
2014 - Second Time Around: The Hubcap as Art, Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, Winchester, USA
2014 - The Misbehaved Project, CMR, Redruth, Cornwall
2013 - Word on the Street, Pictorem, London
2013 - Summer Show, Penny Fielding Gallery, London
2012 - Five Years of Signaling, Signal Gallery, London
2012 - Lady of the Forest, University of KwaZulu Natal , Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
2012 - SPILL: Della Rees & Alke Schmidt, The Stone Space, London
2011 - Dreams, Freud Museum, London
2011 - Natural Histories, Eagle Gallery, London
2011 - The Fishwick Papers, Smokehouse Gallery, Hackney Wick, London
2010 - Art After Dark, ArtEgg Studios, New Orleans 2010 - Inspired by Morris, William Morris Gallery, London
2009 - Artworks Open, Barbican Arts Group Trust , London
2009 - Cut to the Chase!, Bargate Monument Gallery, Southampton
2009 - Mixed Signals, Signal Gallery, London
2009 - Signature - Works on Paper, artSpace , Berlin
2008 - Mixed Blessings, Signal Gallery, London
2008 - Urban Jungle, Exhibition & auction in aid of the charity Trees for Cities, City Hall, London
2007 - Climate of Change, Reclaimed venue, Union Street, London
2005 - The Art of Love, Gallery @ Oxo Tower, London
2004 - The Sex Show - Penetrating the Sex Industry through a Group Show, Lotus Gallery, Bath
2004 - Religion, art and War, Salon des Arts, London
Qualifications and training
2008 - The Body Politic: Social and Ecological Justice, Art and Activism, PLATFORM/Birkbeck University, London
2002 - MA Fine Art, Sir John Cass Faculty, London Guildhall University , London
1998 -2000 LityLit Fine Art Course, City Lit, London
