Lorenz Olivier Schmid
Elegance pervades the oeuvre of Lorenz Olivier Schmid. Like no other artist, he has mastered scientific research work, with which he calls attention to the concealed and the ephemeral in extremely precise artworks: besides three-dimensional objects and site-specific interventions, the focus of his work is photography. His photos sample historical picture technologies and bring to mind, both formally and with respect to method, the contemporary photography of Adam Fuss.
Schmid has participated in numerous institutional exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad, for example, at the Aargauer Kunsthaus, the Kunstmuseum Luzern, and the Kunsthaus Langenthal, as well as in Kunming, Braunschweig, or The Hague. His work has been awarded renowned prizes and studio stipends in Paris and The Hague and received funding from the Swiss Federal Office of Culture. Lorenz Olivier Schmid’s works are represented, among other places, in the art collections of Credit Suisse, Roche, and Helvetia Insurances, as well as of the cities of Aarau and Baden, and set accents in public space throughout Switzerland as art-in-architecture.
*1982 in Aarau, Switzerland. Lives and works in Küttigen, Switzerland.
Exhibition view "Zentral! 23", Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2023. Lorenz Olivier Schmid "Vergegenwärtig", 2023. Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Marc Latzel.
Exhibition view "Lorenz Olivier Schmid – Umnutzungsvorschlag" ["Lorenz Olivier Schmid - Conversion proposal"] Benzeholz, Raum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Meggen, Switzerland, 2022. Lorenz Olivier Schmid "Vorgartenkosmologie" ["Front yard cosmology"], 2020. "Der erste Schnee l" ["The first snow l"], "Der erste Schnee ll" ["The first snow ll"], "Der letzte Schnee l" ["The last snow l"], "Der letzte Schnee ll" ["The last snow ll"], 2022. Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Ralph Kühne.
Façade view "Lorenz Olivier Schmid - Singvogel & Carpiniphon" ["Lorenz Olivier Schmid - Songbird & Carpiniphon"], art and construction for the Rütihof school complex, Baden, Switzerland, 2015-2018. "Carpiniphone" at the entrance areas of the new school complex. Architecture: Stefan Häuselmann, Baden. Courtesy: the artist and the city of Baden. Photo: René Rötheli.
Interior view "Lorenz Olivier Schmid - Eigentlich eine Eisblumenwiese" ["Lorenz Olivier Schmid - Actually a meadow of ice flowers"], art and building for the Neue Totenkapelle Buochs [new funeral chapel Buochs], Nidwalden, Switzerland, 2016. Ice-flowered curtain panes, glass lens inlay, gold-leafed round light, ultramarine blue lime plaster. Architecture: SeilerLinhart, Lucerne. Courtesy: the artist and the parish of Buochs. Photo: Douglas Mandry.
Exhibition view "Jahresausstellung Zentralschweizer Kunstschaffen" ["Annual exhibition of Central Swiss art"], Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2019. Lorenz Olivier Schmid "DIY", 2019. Courtesy: the artist. Photo: Marc Latzel.
