C. Grimaldis is pleased to present Made (Up),

a solo exhibition of recent paintings by Baltimore-based artist Bill Schmidt.

These finely crafted works explore line, color and shape to create playful and intriguing abstractions that explore the possibilities of the surface plane. Made (Up) is his second solo exhibition with C. Grimaldis Gallery.

Schmidt’s primary medium of gouache, a water-soluble paint, appears to be as much collaborator as material. He doesn’t begin his painting with a complete blueprint, but rather a form or structure in mind that is built upon during a process of action and reaction — as the painting takes shape, responding to the surface itself, textures and relationships come together. Finely constructed quality of line and light bring depth to abstracted planes, each peice imbued with playful conversations within their own composition as well as in the presence of each other. At times, similar forms are studied and re imagined in multiple paintings, altering its surroundings to explore how many characters it can take on. Schmidt embraces the limited structure of painting, finding and creating worlds within a flat rectangle. Equally, observations from the outside world are internalized and emerge in the work in the form of shapes, light, and color — bringing a sense of place and familiarity to the abstract.

Bill Schmidt (b. Trenton, NJ) received his BFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (Philadelphia, PA) and his MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting at MICA (Baltimore, MD). He has received numerous awards and recognitions, including the Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council, the Semmes G. Walsh Award from Baker Artists Awards and was named Best in Show by the Bethesda Painting Awards in 2015. Schmidt has held various solo exhibitions including VisArts (Rockville, MD), C. Grimaldis Gallery (Baltimore, MD), and Peale House Gallery (Philadelphia, PA). Selected group exhibitions include Mono Practice (Baltimore, MD), Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD), Newark Museum (Newark, NJ), and Chateau de Rochefort-en-Terre (Rochefort-en-Terre, FR). In 1996, he became a Resident Artist at MICA’s Post-Baccalureate Program in Fine Art, a position he held until he was appointed the Interim Director in 2001.He continued as the program’s Director from 2006 to 2019.

Made (Up) will be on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery from March 7 through April 13, 2024. A reception will take place on Thursday, March 7th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Hours for C. Grimaldis Gallery, which is free and open to the public, are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Press Inquiries: [email protected]


C. Grimaldis Gallery is pleased to present Earth, Light, Paper, Steel, a two-person exhibition of work by German sculptors Annette Sauermann and Madeleine Dietz. This survey display of drawings and wall structures reimagine architectural forms to build new perspectives on abstraction and functionality. The artists last showed together at the Macedonian Museum for Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2011. Their work was brought together in a dialogue concerning materiality and labor. By employing basic raw materials – earth, light, paper, steel – the sculptors bring forward questions of man’s constant desire to construct space, while allowing the viewer to dictate how that space will be navigated.

Sauermann’s translucent acrylic wall sculptures respond to the ambient light in a room. Their rich color creates a luminosity that vibrates through the space in stark contrast to the stoic mixed media drawings of similar form. Dietz’s work responds with texture, disrupting clean geometry with organic, cracked earth. The materials in her sculptures are inherently dichotomous, yet their kindred hard surfaces communicate ideas of decay. Both Sauermann and Dietz consider space to be an integral part of the work; embracing formalism, building tension in materials, balancing the natural and the industrial.

Annette Sauermann (b. 1957, Essan, Germany) studied at the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen, Germany from 1979 to 1986. She has produced recent solo exhibitions at Galerie Linde Hollinger (Ladenburg), Galerie Lausberg (Düsseldorf), Galerie ARTFORUM (Antwerpen, Belgium), and Galerie Claude Samuel (Paris, France). Sauermann is included in many of Germany’s most prominent collections, including the Ludwig Foundation in Aachen, the Museum Ritter in Waldenbuch, the Museum Biedermann Art.Plus in Donaueschingen, the Agathe and Maximilian Weidhaupt Collection in Munich, the Schroth Collection in Soest, and the Foundation Museum Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf.

Madeleine Dietz was (b. 1953, Mannheim, Germany) has exhibited widely throughout Europe and the United states including Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin), Galerie Sonja Roesch (Houston, TX), Museum der Minoriten (Graz), Galerie Linde Holinger (Ladensburg), and Ernst Barlach Museum (Ratzeburg), among others. Her work is in many museums and private collections, including the Kunsthalle Mannheim, Wilhelm – Hack Museum (Ludwigshafen), Museum of Contemporary Art (Neubrandenburg), and the New Museum (Weserburg). She has concurrent exhibitions at Galerie Georg Nothelfer (Berlin) and Galerie Sonja Roesch (Houston, TX).

Earth, Light, Paper, Steel will be on view at C. Grimaldis Gallery from March 7 through April 13, 2024. A reception will take place on Thursday, March 7th from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Hours for C. Grimaldis Gallery, which is free and open to the public, are Wednesday through Saturday, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Add to Calendar 20240307 America/New_York 523 North Charles Street Baltimore MD 21201 Bill Schmidt: Made (Up) & Annette Sauermann + Madeleine Dietz: Earth, Light, Paper, Steel