Inge Schmidt: See you later, sculptures and drawings

Without relying on superficial effects, she creates sculptures and objects whose impact stems from the precision of their composition and her sensitive handling of the respective materials. Each work reveals its own internal order and invites the viewer to engage with the subtle relationships between form, surface, line and space.

The simple, everyday materials with which Inge Schmidt works play a particular role in this: thin timber, cardboard, corrugated cardboard, glue, adhesive tape, string or wire. The artist herself describes them as ‘insignificant materials’. It is precisely their unassuming nature that enables a free and unencumbered way of working. They carry no pre-loaded meaning or special material aura, but remain open to change, connection and transformation.

The makeshift and improvisational nature of these materials forms the starting point for a precise sculptural language. From simple means emerge constructions of great clarity and, at the same time, surprising lightness. The tension between the provisional and the precise execution gives rise to a distinctive poetic quality, which time and again reveals a subtle, quiet humour.

Inge Schmidt’s works are closely related to their surroundings. Architecture does not serve as a backdrop, but as a counterpart: walls, floors, edges and proportions are taken up and incorporated into the composition. Between construction and openness, works emerge that structure the space without dominating it.

Drawings and artist’s books expand upon the artist’s sculptural thinking. They are closely linked to her three-dimensional works whilst simultaneously forming a distinct strand of her oeuvre.

The exhibition at boa-basedonart offers an insight into a unique body of work developed over decades and an extraordinary artistic practice characterised by a consistent engagement with material, form and space.

Inge Schmidt was born in Bonn in 1944 and lives and works in Cologne. From 1975 to 1981, she studied sculpture under Michael Croissant at the Städelschule – Academy of Fine Arts in Frankfurt am Main. Her works have been exhibited at venues including the Kolumba in Cologne, the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Kunstmuseum Villa Zanders in Bergisch Gladbach. In 2018, she received the August Macke Medal for her life’s work. (Source: boa-basedonart)

Exhibition dates: 4 September to 31 October 2026