Kevin Schmidt is a Vancouver-based artist who works in diverse media with a focus on photography and video, and has a strong interest in landscape, music and popular culture. Little Blue Lake, Face Lake and Johnson Lake are a series of three photographs that were produced in 2006 and exemplify a continuation of his interest in artistic interventions into nature.

For each of these photographs, Schmidt hiked into the forest in search of a panoramic lake view that was interrupted by a lone tree. That tree was then transformed into a trompe-l’oeil pictorial prop. A plaster-like substance was applied to the bark of the tree to produce a smooth surface onto which was rendered in paint an image depicting the scene that is hidden from view behind the tree. This dual view is a playful comment upon reality and representation in the history of artistic rendering of the landscape.

These photographs are in the permanent collection of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and complement the exhibition, Special Collection: Acquisitions and Archives, that is currently on view at the Gallery and which showcases many important works that have been collected by the Belkin during the past three decades.

For more information on Special Collection at the Belkin Art Gallery click here.

This exhibition is a collaboration between the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and the Walter C. Koerner Library at The University of British Columbia, and is made possible with the generous support of the Audain Foundation. Art in the Library offers new perspectives on contemporary art by presenting art that questions our current perceptions about the world around us.