What Is My Work About?
In my artistic work, I examine the transformation of the Californian landscape through the lens of mid century aesthetics using raw materials of environmental relevance. My creative practice follows two distinct paths of exploration. First, I produce material-based works researching the architectural history and cultural philosophy of the California dream as realized in the development of the city of Los Angeles. My second path involves a series of collaborative projects in response to travel and place, where local community participation is essential.
Artist Statement
In my artistic work, I examine the transformation of the Californian landscape through the lens of mid century aesthetics using raw materials of environmental relevance. My creative practice follows two distinct paths of exploration. First, I produce material-based works researching the architectural history and cultural philosophy of the California dream as realized in the development of the city of Los Angeles. My second path involves a series of collaborative projects in response to travel and place, where local community participation is essential. Examples of this second category include an international and interdisciplinary collaboration reflecting on and created on location during the swine flu epidemic in Mexico, and an ethnographic documentation of cave dwellers in Cappadocia, Turkey. The most recent large-scale community project in process is Outpost Projects, a homesteader cabin on five acres in the high desert of California that will serve as an experimental project site. These two aspects of my practice mutually inform one another, and are equally important in my overall creative body of work.
My current body of object based work in process, Psionic Generators, combines an interest in utopic architecture and philosophy to investigate forms that claim to be ‘ESP activating’ from a 1970’s New Age book about psionic generators. Psionic generators are devices that propose to activate the energy streaming from your eyes with specific proportions and relationships to induce paranormal phenomena. I manipulate the patterns and proportions of these psionic generators as neither a believer or a critic, I think of them as fascinating tools to generate form and question the resulting function.
The recent Tomorrowland series explores the idea that utopia can be considered not only a place or a goal, but also as the very act of striving for such a target. These hybridized structures are materializations, remnants of an ideal that never was and may never be. As fallen monuments to a utopic philosophy, they function as relics of both a “good place” and “no place.” They nod towards a bright future and a fallen past, recontextualizing and recombining materials that are both nostalgic and futuristic. An embedded sense of naiveté is inherent to the objects, formed from a chemical bond of sunshine and noir that was repeatedly cooled and heated by urban temperament and artifice. Part architectural, part fossil, part potential: these works utilize discarded building materials that appear to have crystallized within a ‘natural’ process—strata that have undergone philosophical transformation yet to be fulfilled.
This process of research began with an interest in the history of the midwestern suburban landscape and culture from my youth, where the middle class idea of “the good life” fueled a massive overhaul of the American landscape that would drastically alter how we live for generations to come. This background, combined with my fascination and love/hate relationship with the city of Los Angeles, has lead me to examine mid-century philosophies of utopia and idealism. Los Angeles has a sordid environmental history as a strange apocalyptic theme park. Its plush, manicured landscape is a reminder of both a forced growth in an otherwise Mediterranean geography, and as a monument to human ingenuity made possible by diverting an unfathomable amount of water from distant sources. I am captivated by the hybridized structures and blatant artifice of the city in both its natural and man-made environments where hill top homes float precariously overhead on earth that has a topographical complexity of embedded catastrophe.
CV
EDUCATION
2014 University of California, Los Angeles Extension – Advanced Web & Interactive Design Certificate
2003 University of Arizona – Master of Fine Arts – Printmaking & Sculpture – Tucson, AZ
1997 Kansas City Art Institute – Bachelor of Fine Arts – Printmaking & Painting – Kansas City, MO
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2013 Project Room Gallery, Grand Central Art Center, California State University Fullerton – Crosscut – Santa Ana, CA
2013 Prescott College Art Gallery – Tomorrowland – Prescott, AZ
2011 Museum of Contemporary Art – Tomorrowland – Tucson, AZ
2010 Greenleaf Gallery, Whittier College – La Fuente de la Vida – Whittier, CA
2008 Locust Projects – The Magic City – Miami, FL
2008 Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts – Gods Eye – Omaha, NE
2008 Gardiner Art Gallery, Oklahoma State University – Storm Tracking – Stillwater, OK
2006 Tilt Gallery and Project Space – Comfort Food – Portland, OR
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2014 Friedman Benda Gallery – Apocryphal Times – New York, NY
2014 Ichibeicho Gallery – From The Dust Returns – Curated by Kio Griffith – Tokyo, Japan
2014 Gallery MC – Contemporary Abstraction – New York, NY
2014 Universidad de Guanajuato – Esferas – León, Mexico
2014 Autonomie Projects – DraftPunk – Los Angeles, CA
2014 The Hoxton Gallery – Up and Coming – London, UK
2014 Torrance Art Museum – MAS ATTACK 6 – Torrance, CA
2014 LA Art Book Fair, MOCA Geffen – Feminist Dossiers project participant, with WCCW (Women’s Center for Creative Work) – Los Angeles, CA
2014 Centro Cultural Atarazanas – Una Casa Como Yo – Veracruz, Mexico
2014 Torrance Art Museum – Prep School – surviving an Apocalypse, or not. Prepper and Survivalist Ideologies and Utopian/Dystopian Visions. –
Torrance, CA
2013 Commonwealth & Council – site specific permanent Installation, Portal – Los Angeles, CA
2013 Pete & Susan Barrett Art Gallery, Santa Monica College – SMC Faculty Exhibition – Santa Monica, CA
2013 José Drudis-Biada Gallery, Mount Saint Mary’s College – Divergent Geometry – Los Angeles, CA
2013 Galeria La Miscelanea, Universidad Del Arte – Una Casa como Yo: Asuntos Domésticos – Puebla, Mexico
2012 Zatoka Sztuki – Projekt Papier – Curator: Gosia Wojas – Sopot, Poland
2012 Pacific Design Center – Ground Control – Curator: 5790projects – Los Angeles, CA
2012 High Desert Test Sites – Postcard Project 2012 – Joshua Tree, CA
2012 California State University, Northridge Gallery – Singles and Series – Northridge, CA
2012 Land of Tomorrow Gallery – F/Utility – Lexington, KY
2012 Vincent Price Museum – East Los Angeles College Art Faculty Show – Los Angeles, CA
2012 Cerritos College Art Gallery – Architectural Deinforcement: Constructing Disaster and Decay – Los Angeles, CA
2012 Jardin De Las Esculturas – Una Casa como Yo: Asuntos Domésticos – Xalapa, Mexico
2012 Torrance Art Museum – Blank Land – Torrance, CA
2012 Shangrila 2012 – Joshua Tree, CA
2012 Central Utah Art Center – The Gangs all Here; Art from LA – Ephraim, Utah
2012 University of South Dakota – Binary Inventions Print Portfolio – Grand Forks, ND
2011 Asihlquaiss Offspace – Anonyme Zeichner Archiv – Zurich, Switzerland
2011 Summercamp Project Project – Friday Night Lights & Sunday Afternoons – Los Angeles, CA
2011 Occidental College Gallery – Land Mark – Los Angeles, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS CONTINUED
2011 El Bauhaus Gallery – Una Casa Como Yo: Asuntos Domésticos – Monterrey, Mexico
2011 Washington State University Gallery – Build Up – Curator: Michelle Forsythe – Pullman, WA
2011 The Lodge – Coming and Going – Bloomington, IN
2011 Co/Lab- LA Mart – Los Angeles, CA
2010 Golden Parachutes Gallery – Flat File – Berlin, Germany
2010 Museum of Contemporary Art – MADE in Tucson/BORN in Tucson/LIVE in Tucson – Tucson, AZ
2010 Jen Bekman Gallery – New Topographies – New York, NY
2010 AT1 Projects – Volume – Curator: Andrea Neustein – Los Angeles, CA
2010 Archer Gallery, Clark College – Alight – Vancouver, WA
2009 Gallery Satori – Invisible Duck Tape – New York, NY
2009 Phantom Gallery – Molasses Happens Rather Quickly – Long Beach, CA
2009 Liste Basel – Anonymous Drawings no.9 Archive – Basel, Switzerland
2009 Freie Universitat Berlin – Anonymous Drawings no.9 Archive – Berlin, Germany
2009 Lumenhouse Gallery – Abstractions and Contractions – Brooklyn, NY
2009 The Sketchbook Project Traveling Exhibition – Venues: Museum of Contemporary Art- Washington DC, 3rd Ward Gallery-
Brooklyn,NY,Antena Gallery- Chicago IL, Chris’ Jazz Café-Philadelphia, PA, Laconia Gallery- Boston, MA, Art House Gallery – Atlanta, GA,
Museum of Design- Atlanta, GA
2009 The Armoury Gallery – Western States – Milwaukee, WI
2009 Gallery Arcane – Sweet and Low: Optimism in a Pessimistic Age – San Francisco, CA
2008 Kreuzberg/Bethanien – Anonymous Drawings no.9 – Berlin, Germany
2008 Jen Bekman Gallery – X Marks the Spot – New York, NY
2008 Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock – Drawing Los Angeles – Los Angeles, CA
2008 Torrance Art Museum – Torrance Juried Exhibition – Juror: Gosia Wojas – Torrance, CA
2008 Barnsdall Park – Los Angeles Biennial Juried Exhibition – Jurors: Carl Berg, Lisa Melandri & Tyler Stallings
2008 Art for Empty Walls – March Featured Artist – Los Angeles, CA
2007 Rosenburg Gallery – The Ethnography of No Place – Baltimore, MD
2007 The Affair at the Jupiter Hotel – with Tilt Gallery – Portland, OR
2007 Urban Institute for Contemporary Art – Console – Grand Rapids, MI
2007 Portland Art Center – Console – Portland, OR
2006 Gallery 825 – Southern California Open – Juror: Ann Philbin – Los Angeles, CA
2006 Gallery 500 – Inertia – Portland, OR
2006 Dinnerware Gallery – Systemic – Tucson, AZ
2006 Sam Hill Warehouse Gallery – Prescott College Faculty Showcase – Prescott, AZ
AWARDS AND RESIDENCY PROGRAMS
2015 Scuola Internazionale di Grafica Venezia – Artist Pension Trust Fellowship Prize Residency
Venice, Italy
2013 California Community Foundation Fellowship for Visual Arts – Los Angeles, CA
2011 Foundation For Contemporary Arts – Grant – New York, NY
2011 Center For Cultural Innovation – Creative Capacity Fund Grant – San Francisco, CA
2011 Babayan Cultural House – Residency – Cappadocia, Turkey
2010 Durfee Foundation – Artist Resource for Completion Grant – Los Angeles, CA
2009 Pollock-Krasner Foundation – Grant – New York, NY
2009 Takt Kunstprojektraum – Residency – Berlin, Germany
2008 Bemis Center For Contemporary Arts – Residency – Omaha, NE
2006 Raid Projects- Residency – Los Angeles, CA
2006 Arizona Commission of the Arts – Professional Development Grant – Pheonix, AZ
2005 Sculpture Space – Residency – Utica, NY
PRESS
2014 Fabrik Magazine – Eight LA Artists to Know – by Kio Griffith – June 20 – Los Angeles, CA
2013 Otis College of Art and Design, Freeway Studies: Studio Visits with L.A. Artists blog – Aili Schmeltz, Baldwin Hills – by Jeseca Dawson –
October 30 – Los Angeles, CA
2013 Anderson Ranch Arts Center Blog – Spotlight on Summer 2013 Painting Faculty: Aili Schmeltz – May 3 – Aspen, CO
2013 Belio Magazine – Aili Schmeltz, Recycled Utopias – April 19 – Madrid, Spain
PRESS CONTINUED
2013 20 x 200– A Jen Bekman Project – Crystaline Bunker limited print edition – January 10 – New York, NY
2012 Juxtapoz Magazine – The Conceptual Works of Aili Schmeltz – December 29
2012 Green Prophet; Environmental News of the Middle East – Save the Cave Dwellers of Cappadocia – May 22 – Tafline Laylin
2012 GYST Radio Interview – Hybrid Artists Aili Schmeltz and Danielle McCullough – March 8 Kara Tome
2012 20 x 200– A Jen Bekman Project – Urban Storm limited print edition – January 10 –New York, NY
2012 msbehaved.com – Q&A With Artist Aili Schmeltz – June 7 – Sarah Saxon
2012 Big Artist Now – featured artist & commissioned design – Las Vegas, NV
2012 Cerritos College – Architectural Deinforcement exhibition catalogue – Los Angeles, CA
2011 Tucson Weekly – The ‘Good Life’ – May 5 – By Margaret Regan
2011 Ruby: Otherworldliness book – April 15 – Edited by Irana Douer – Gestalten Publishers – Berlin, Germany and London, UK
2010 Build Up – exhibition catalogue – essay ‘Paint Misbehavin’ written by Craig Drennen – Washington State University Gallery – Pullman, WA
2010 Volume – exhibition catalogue – Los Angeles, CA
2010 La Fuente de la Vida – catalogue – ‘Overlapping Narratives’ by David Hernández Casas – Los Angeles, CA / Monterrey, Mexico
2010 NY Arts Magazine – ‘Best of the West Coast’- Nov/Dec. issue – New York, NY
2010 TAKE (artist) ‘Our Mountain’ (album title) – Album and CD cover – AstroPup Records – April – Los Angeles, CA
2010 Studio Visit Magazine – The Open Studios Press – November 1 – Curator: Carl Belz
2008 The Daily O’Collegian of Oklahoma State University – ‘Art Gets in Shape’ by Matt Johnson – September 22 – Stillwater, OK
2008 Baltimore City Paper – ‘Road to Nowhere’ – April 16 – Baltimore, MD – Deborah McLeod
2008 Elvis in Hawaii Blogspot – ‘Interview with Aili Schmeltz’ – by Claudio Parentela – April 17 – Catanzaro, Italy
2008 Ruby Mag – Feature – January 15 – Buenos Aires, Argentina
2008 20 x 200– A Jen Bekman Project – ‘Embedded’ limited edition – April 1 – New York, NY
2008 Miami Art Review – Interview with Aili Schmeltz – by Aimee Sinclair – February 9 – Miami, FL
2007 Ethnography of No Place – catalogue – Rosenburg Gallery – Baltimore, MD
20 x 200– A Jen Bekman Project – ‘Radar’ limited edition – November 13 – New York, NY
CURATED SLIDE REGISTRIES
THE DRAWING CENTER – Viewing Program
THE IRVING SANDLER ARTIST FILE – local-artist.org