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- Nicholas Schmidt
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Each project is approached as a form of mediation—between the self and the world, narratives and their contexts, the past, present, and future. The results do not represent the conclusion of formal exploration alone, but rather serve as a means of inquiry into the perceptions that define them. This approach resists dualistic distinctions, unifying concept and material, mind and body, idea and act. Embedding our work within this dialectic of theory and practice allows the outcome to function as a site of continuous negotiation, where meaning emerges not in isolation but as a perpetual duet with form.
Our practice engages with the world through a critical lens. This critique of the present is not an act of negation but a method of reflection. It is a generative act—an incessant investigation into what could be refined, reconsidered, and made more meaningful. Rather than incorporating critique as an end in itself, the work calls for transformation, offering a positive impression that shapes a more introspective and nuanced experience. We embrace the potential for growth not as an idealized abstraction but as a tangible possibility for a more introspective and meaningful world.
We reject the tendency to rely excessively on allusions and references, speaking instead through a universal language of aesthetic expression, independent of external associations. Outcomes are non-referential, seeking clarity and simplicity that are inherently significant beyond predetermined iconography and its contemporaneous context. We are committed to moving beyond metaphor, representation, and allusion, seeking to construct propositions that are direct, objective, and self-contained. In this pursuit, we partake in a radical economy of form—distilling every element to its most essential expression. This is not minimalism for its own sake, but minimalism as a way of allowing meaning to emerge without excess. The ethos behind this approach is one of discipline, restraint, and respect for the material world. Through this radical economy, we allow space for reflection, enabling the work to unfold its significance in the mind of the viewer.
These are the foundations of our practice, the horizon toward which our efforts are oriented. We strive to enact these ideals, though we are not blind to the inevitability of imperfection in the process. These principles are not meant to dictate or dominate; they are neither a manifesto nor a mandate. We resist the temptation to impose our vision of reality as definitive, knowing that such acts of imposition risk collapsing the pluralities and contradictions that give complexity to experience. Our commitment is not to fixed truths, but to the pursuit of understanding, always provisional, always open to critique and reimagining. We are “contented so to look on mists in idleness— ”.