Art Exhibition • January 21st – March 18th, 2018 • Kristine Schomaker

ARK is pleased to present new photographic work by Kristine Schomaker • Solo Exhibition • “Plus”. Opening reception January 21st, 2018 4:PM – 7:PM

On view January 21- March 18
Opening Reception: January 21, 4-7pm
Artist Talk: February 11, 3-5pm
Closing Reception: March 18, 2-5pm

The photographs that comprise Kristine Schomaker’s new body of work entitled “Plus” continue her explorations of body image. In the past, Schomaker has investigated notions of beauty by transforming her appearance to conform to an avatar she created, physically embodying an invented Second Life persona. She has also created works that track her struggles with an eating disorder. Using herself as subject, Schomaker examines notions of body image and concepts of beauty. 

In “Plus” Schomaker presents an installation of large-scale photographs. Some are hung directly on the wall while others are printed onto transparencies and suspended from the ceiling so that viewers must walk around them directly interacting with and confronting her body. The photographs were taken in a hotel room one early morning as Schomaker contemplated the presence of the figure, the theatricality of the space and public and private notions of voyeurism. 

In each of the images, Schomaker captures her naked body pressed against the translucent surface in different poses—some suggesting dance, others suggesting imprisonment. Schomaker is unabashed at presenting the folds of her skin. While she has spoken about her conflicted relationship to her body, in these works she celebrates the silhouettes created in a private performance that captured the curves and shapes of her body, hazily seen behind the glass. She states, “This new body of work is about: confrontation, weight, shape, excess, history, voyeurism, objectification, control, confinement, containment, self-esteem, confidence, bravery, revealing and concealing, authenticity.” 

In “Plus,” Schomaker engages in a dialogue with other female/feminist artists who have become empowered by exposing their vulnerabilities in front of the camera – Laura Aguilar, Hanna Wilke, Eleanor Antin, Jenny Saville, Anna Mendieta. She succeeds in overcoming inhibitions by celebrating her physical form.

Kristine Schomaker is a Los Angeles based multidisciplinary artist and art historian. She received her BA in Art History and a MA in Studio Art from California State University Northridge. In addition to being a practicing artist Schomaker is the founder of Shoebox PR, oversees and curates a residency space for Shoebox Projects at the Brewery in Los Angeles in addition to being the editor of the online contemporary art magazine Art and Cake. Schomaker has been exhibiting her work since the early 2000s and has been featured in numerous exhibitions including most recently, group shows at POST, Brainworks Gallery, BLAM, MuseuMM (Los Angeles, 2017); Torrance Art Museum, I-5 Gallery, Angel City Brewery (2016) and these solo exhibitions: “Mirror, Mirror!” Gallery H Phantom Galleries LA, Hawthorne, California (2015), “A Comfortable Skin,” Kerckhoff Hall Art Gallery UCLA, presented by UCLA Cultural Arts Commission, Los Angeles, California (2014) and “Ce n’est pas une peinture,” TRACTIONARTS, Los Angeles, California (2013).