Iris Schomaker

Iris Schomaker, born in 1973 in Stade in Germany, is known for her unframed, often large-scale paintings on paper of landscapes and figures. To Schomaker, the images represented in the paintings themselves are secondary to the themes she explores through the process of painting. Herein, she focusses on forms of representation, the potential of painting, and the reproduction of atmospheric content. These themes find expression in Schomaker’s own visual language, which is characterised by the tension between figurative representation and painterly abstraction. Schomaker’s palette is quiet, with little divergence between pastel hues and black, white, and grey tones. The softness of her palette gives her work a drawing-like quality, which is emphasized further by pencil marks and other left-over traces of the working process.

Iris Schomaker studied fine arts in Kiel and Hamburg as well as in Trondheim and Bergen in Norway. She has participated in various national and international exhibitions, including Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (2025), Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest (2024), Sammlung Friedrichshof, Vienna (2018), Kunstverein Schwimmhalle Schloss Plön (2016), Beijing International Art Biennale (2015), Mediation Biennal, Poznan (2014), Museum Sinclair-Haus, Bad Homburg (2014), Frankfurter Kunstverein (2013), Kunsthaus Stade (2013), Berlinische Galerie (2007; 2010), Schloss Salzau (2009), Staatliche Galerie, Zoppot (2001), and Villa Manin in Passariano (2001). Her works can be found in several public and many private collections. Iris Schomaker lives and works in Berlin.

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