The gasoline imagination of Valérie Schmid

Written by Laura Moylan

23/07/2023

Series ‘Flame’ by Valérie Schmid. 2018. 70 x 160 cm. Oil on canvas.

The 2022 Jeune Vague Prize for painting was awarded to the abstract artist Valérie Schmid. By choosing her, the jury chose an artist who has every chance of becoming a new world star of abstract painting.

Valérie Schmid understands painting as a process that depends on the behaviour of the applied paint. Thus, each work remains understandable in its compositional structure and follows its independent logic and system. The technique of applying paint becomes the central theme of her works, conceived as a series of works expressing a specific range of variations.

Valérie's concept of handling colour determines the artistic result, the structure of the process, and the variety of possibilities. She is trying to make the creation process visible in the paintings; this is the essential concept to understanding her meaning. She is concerned with conveying ‘the foundations of the experience of painting ’, depicting the connection between her thoughts and actions.

Through her process-oriented approach, Valérie strongly promotes and develops abstract painting. While she avoided representational associations in her early paintings, allusions to flowers, flames, explosions, jellyfish, and sea waves are a new aspect of her latest works.

To create them, Valérie pressed a paint-soaked round brush against a white-primed canvas with such force that the bristles were pushed outward on the canvas. Repeating this process several times, she made paintings that gave the impression of floating jellyfish or a sea of flowers. Although the production process is abbreviated, understandable and almost completely free from the subjective statements of the artist, these works radiate an intense sensuality and mystery.

Valérie Schmid’s already completed paintings are ‘sleeping’ objects waiting for their viewer to wake them up and activate them if successful. The enjoyment of the picture is conducted through the senses and the intellect.

The French Jeune Vague Award has been presented yearly in Orléans since 2017. It recognises talented artists who work with a wide variety of materials and techniques and whose work is of international importance. Undoubtedly, one of these artists is Valérie Schmid.

Laura Moylan is a writer and moving image curator based in London, and a runner-up in the Film and Video Umbrella and Art Monthly Michael O’Pray Prize 2022.

The Michael O’Pray Prize is a Film and Video Umbrella initiative in partnership with Art Monthly, supported by University of East London and Arts Council England.