Oblique Strategies -Art Ideas That Whisper

Watercolour by Peter Schmidt

Oblique Strategies was originally released in 1975 by collaborators Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. Eno's reflecton on a visit with Schmidt and the ideas and energy that collaboration generates are in an article in Melody Maker article from January of 1977:

This evening I visited Peter Schmidt .... we look at the 12 watercolours he made. The last three of the series are quite exceptionally beautiful - a tiny road winds down the side of an almost vertical mountain whose peak is lost in the clouds.

Later in the evening we talk about the work of Die Brucke, the group of German painters active between 1905-25, who impressed us all so much in Berlin.

Peter posed the question: "What could one do now that would have the sense of daring which those works had?"

I reply that I think the answer must lie in doing things that are very quiet, which make no assault, and perhaps do not obviously trade in novelty. Like watercolours. At a time when drama is at a premium, reticence and delicacy communicate best."

Reading that last bit was such a confirmation for me how how I am working. Things have gotten louder and faster in the last 30 years. My hope for my sculpture is that it offers stillness and quiet, anchoring the viewer to a moment and memory.