17.02.2016
Two women and their latest artwork
Bülacher Kurier 0f 17.02.2016 17.02.2016 Two women and their latest artwork. Bülacher Kurier of 17.02.2016 (…) Her real name is Regine Schmidt-Morsbach. She is more widely known by her pseudonym „Schmimo“. She has held several exhibitions in the past in Bürlach. For her next project she will be presenting her latest artwork in the Café Klaus, with the underlying motto „We are ready“, where she will show us people as only Schmimo sees them. As she says herself, she „observes very closely, looking for little hidden signs of the people behind the facade.“ Her aim is to scrape off some of the smoothness and sheen from the surface of these facades. „I am fascinated by flaws and cracks in people’s outward appearances.“ The results of her observations are astonishing, not least because as observers we are pulled back and forth : on the one hand we may recognize a friend and smile to ourselves: on the other hand we may recognize ourselves – making us pause for thought or perhaps even scratch our heads…..
03.04.2015
Münster artist Regine Schmidt-Morsbach fits out two cruise liners with her paintings
Westfälischen Nachrichten of 3.04.2015: Invitation to colourful table scenes Münster artist Regine Schmidt-Morsbach fits out two cruise liners with her paintings Münster: Has she ever been on a cruise? (…) „Well – that’s not really my scene“. She is a passionate cyclist, and has to „clock-up the mileage“. Rather difficult on a luxury liner. Two years ago Regine Schmidt-Morsbach received the email which started the ball rolling. A gallery in Bielefeld specialising in Art-Consulting, sent an email asking whether she was interested in doing the artwork for a restaurant. She hesitated, suspecting some kind of joke. But the idea stuck in her mind. There were of course her „table paintings“, which brought together figures, gestures and exchange of glances in interesting and surprising ways, creating group portraits- „actually ideal for a restaurant atmosphere“. (…) So she sent a few photographs of her paintings back to the gallery’s email address. After that, nothing happened for a long time. Maybe it was a joke after all. Then quite suddenly there was a reply in her mailbox: the gallery, which was acting as intermediary, wrote that the customers were apparently impressed, so she would be included in the official list of applicants. Weeks later a new notification: she was now on the shortlist. There was still no mention of the ominous restaurant concerned – not a word. In January 2014 the bomb exploded. Regine Schmidt-Morsbach was given the contract to provide the artwork for the restaurants on two cruise liners belonging to the Aida Group, which were to be launched in 2015 and 2016 in Nagasaki in Japan.(…) Then work started in earnest. There were 12 initial designs to be made for the acrylic paintings and presented for approval to the Aida management in Rostock. Regine Schmidt-Morsbach set to work immediately, first developing the designs in the format 30 by 40 cms, in water-colour, in order „to preserve the vibrancy and lightness of the scenes“. The next step for Schmidt-Morsbach is to transfer the subjects, i.e. people enjoying being together around a table, into large-scale compositions in acrylics on canvas. „My aim is to retain the typical water-colour qualities using a very different painting medium“ the artist explained. A year has passed since then and at this point she is working on the last of the 12 paintings in her studio on the Sternstrasse. In February a haulage company surveyed, packed and shipped the first 6 paintings to Nagasaki. As we already mentioned, the second series is almost completed. The twelfth painting is standing half-finished on her easel as Schmidt-Morsbach is telling us this amazing story. „The original drafts will be converted into acrylics in structural sub-divisions and iridescent colour blocks“. Her figures, which are often rather lavish, gather round a table, which forms the basis of each composition. In one case a chameleon joins a group of distinguished-looking gentlemen, in another it is very obvious that the characters are under the influence of alcohol – as confirmed in the title of one of her works, „Let’s make Life worth Living“. „I am really enjoying my work. It fascinates me that, despite having clear draft versions to work from, some new and surprising compositions start appearing on the canvas!“ the artist explains. She is now hurrying to complete the project by the end of the month. An exhibition in Switzerland is already looming on the horizon. Does she find it easy knowing her work will be sailing around on the world’s oceans? Regine Schmidt-Morsbach hesitates : „If someone were to invite me, I’d love to see for myself where my paintings have ended up.“ And if she were invited on a cruise, „then I would love to accompany a group of elderly ladies from the USA – for study purposes“. Let’s wait and see what the future may hold.
29.12.2014
Honorary Citizenship for Schmimo
Westfälische Nachrichten, Dec. 29th, 2014 Honorary Citizenship for Schmimo WN Dec. 29th, 2014 In the Community Town Hall in Conzano in Piemont, Italy, top political representatives (i.e. the mayors from neighbouring communities, the Bishop of Casale Monferato and many other guests of honour), attended a meeting with the purpose of awarding honorary citizenship. As well as the Commandante Caputo, the artist RS-M, alias Schmimo, received this honorary title. According to official statements, this was due to the huge success of her „Residenza Artistica“ in 2013. During that period of time, Shmimo grew very close to the place and its people through her art. The resulting exhibition „Non basta mai – la libertà di restare“ in the Palazzo Villa Vidua, also presented in the Geological Museum in Münster from Dec. 13th to March 14th 2014, enjoyed nationwide acclaim. The Mayor of Conzano, Emanuele Demoria, and the journalist Anna Maria Bruno will be making an exchange visit to Münster in May 2015.
22.03.2013
Münstersche Zeitung : Painting light as a feather
22.03.2013 Münstersche Zeitung : Painting light as a feather Regine Schmidt-Morsbach has published a textbook cum artbook on watercolour painting. The feathers on paper look so soft and fine, as if they are about to be blown away. Red, green, blue and yellow, delicately patterned, with gentle curves, slightly dishevelled around the base of the quill. How to paint them realistically and as light as a feather is the topic of RS-M’s first book : „Watercolour Inspirations“. A combination of textbook and artbook.
06.06.2012
Westfälische Nachrichten: Day by day, stroke by stroke
Day by day, stroke by stroke For over a year, Regine Schmidt-Morsbach ( or Schmimo for short), recorded the independent existence of visual impressions and objets trouvés in her so-called Month Pictures, day by day, month by month, stroke by stroke (…) scenes from everyday life, people or expressions which she came across. The resulting pictures can be “read” both as observation reports as well as wanderings of fantasy. Incorporated into a standardized basic format, the large-scale watercolours are composed of many single images. Basic colour chords overlay some components or sometimes the whole ensemble, giving atmosphere to the composition. At times graphical and objective, at times artistically free, alternating between caricature-like and individually precise images, one continually discovers new details. The artist, who was born in Wiedenbrück, was the winner if the 24th Biennial “Internazionale des Umorismo nell Árte” 2007, and has her atelier in the Sternstrasse in Münster.
05.09.2008
Zürcher Anzeiger
Personal and artistic development There are two topics with which Schmimo fascinates her spectators: Paper boats on the sea and tables. One hesitates. What is the connection between the two? The artist proves that there are many: the possibilities for expression are infinite, there are whole panoramas of movement; like the sea, the people around a table show many variations in behaviour and effect. The Table images, complex watercolours, allow closeness between people, at the same time creating distance between them. They tell people's stories and bring relationships to light. The Paperboat paintings are larger in format and in oil and acrylic. The blue-green of the water suggests a lighthearted atmosphere. The glimsy paper boats, without sail nor rudder nor engine, go with the movement of the sea, put up no resistance, need no strength, take over the rhythm of the waves- if they didn't, they would quickly go under. A wonderful metaphor. Engine, sail, rudder - the artist equates these steering elements with expectations. (....) it is joyful anticipation, curiously, with which she consciously experiences the rhythm of life, the wind-calm moments and the storms of life, - with the knowledge, that the sea and life itself are infinite. Schmimo´s paintings are joyous, with a positive approach to life and at the same time, profound and light.
07.10.2006
Westfälische Nachrichten
"Excellent! Need I say more!”, was the joyous comment of the consultant for culture at the University Clinic…before he put his enthusiasm for the exhibition into words : “ It is a comedy of vanities, which unmasks, but still takes a sympathetic attitude, exaggerates and yet never falsifies anything, somehow ruthless, and yet optimistic."
22.03.2002
ZH
"As to the German contributions, what at first glance appears to be a colourful picture-story or a highly developed cartoon, on closer inspection is actually something completely different, namely a mirror image of our times and momentary state, not only of the artist, but also of the beholder. Not without humour, perhaps even jokingly, she portrays scenes from everyday life, characterizes various human types, correlates them to one another, exposes them to the critical gaze of the viewer, and yet never seems to be cruel nor cynical …"
07.09.2001
Westfälische Nachrichten
"… Straight from life, like everything which originates from Schmimo’s paint box or inkwell! She has turned middle-class hypocrisy and self-delusion into a guiding theme. Three plump Graces with pouting lips, who have tried, and not succeeded, to "doll themselves up", are just as much part of it as the varied line-up of corduroy-Casanovas, who adorn paper and canvas. And the viewer can’t help having the suspicion that he himself may be a topic, when Schmimo plumbs the depths of hidden characteristics. Her many-dimensioned watercolours, in which she imparts characteristic solidity to her colourful blurring by applying a few ink strokes, are yet not the kind of bitterly cruel caricatures à la Manfred Deix. Even if at first glance the figures have some similarities. They are much too friendly in comparison. The artist with her visual acuity for what is human, doesn’t need photo-realism in order to portray reality…" .
05.10.1993