Dead End by Ana Schmidt

'Imagination brings us to worlds that never have existed. But without imagination we can´t live.' – Carl Sagan

"Throughout generations mythology and narratives have had influence on our views of the world. We live in a world where narratives are constructed for entertainment and merchandising, not to explain our experiences. Our world needs myths, art. Dead End is about painted histories on the walls; it allows ambiguity. It presents also a second reality—the reflections on the water—but it is also a painting of a real place.

My work focuses on urban landscapes and how they appear in our everyday experience. Finding inspiration from my surroundings, I am especially interested in painting the territorial changes brought on over the recent decades by the process of urban transformation and sprawl.

My painting process involves my emersion in a particular environment, which I physically explore until something catches my eye. In the next step of my process, I return to my studio where I compose preliminary sketches, study the relationships between colors and hues and select a final palette. ​ Our job as artists is to study the shapes, proportions, values, edges, color temperatures and textures that nature and man provide." – ANA SCHMIDT