Artist Randall Schmit in his studio on Main Street in Valatie. Schmit’s paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, and others.
Barbara Reina/For the Times Union
As an abstract and surrealist artist, Randall Schmit is best-known for his expressive gesture, abstract form and use of comic imagery.
Courtesy of Randall Schmit
The “Wire Man” sculpture was created by Randall Schmit in high school.
Courtesy of Randall Schmit
As an abstract and surrealist artist, Randall Schmit is best-known for his expressive gesture, abstract form and use of comic imagery.
Courtesy of Randall Schmit
Artist Randall Schmit in his studio on Main Street in Valatie.
Barbara Reina/For the Times Union
Artist Randall Schmit often bikes to Beaver Mill Falls, seen here, from his studio on Main Street to contemplate his next painting.
Barbara Reina/For the Times Union
If you’re in the village of Valatie at 5:30 a.m., you might catch a glimpse of artist Randall Schmit riding his bicycle, making a stop to meditate at one of the waterfalls on opposite ends of Main Street. It’s become part of a daily routine to clear his mind in preparation for his next painting.
Schmit’s unassuming studio on Main Street sits quietly, blending in with the buildings surrounding it, but there’s an artist at work inside.
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“I work every day,” Schmit said. “People ask me what I do. I say, ‘I just paint.’”
His paintings are included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art, and others. He is a contemporary American artist of Luxembourgian descent.
Living in a village deeply rooted in Dutch heritage resonates with Schmit. “I feel a connection with the history around here. My grandfather was Dutch,” Schmit said. “I think about the Dutch influence on painting. Valatie comes from the Dutch, and means ‘little falls.’ We have two nice waterfalls here.”
As an abstract and surrealist artist, Schmit is best known for his expressive gesture, abstract form and use of comic imagery. His work joins secular and mythical images inside ambiguous spaces. Like a surreal graphic novel, his biomorphic design culminates into an expressionist painting.
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His calligraphic and buoyant abstractions first came to public attention in the 1980s with extensive exhibitions in Manhattan. New York Times art critic Michael Brenson described his work as, “overflowing with loud, cartoonish shapes, but they are placed over a muted ground and arranged so that the noisy canvas seems to be spinning around us.”
In 2014, art critic Robert C. Morgan wrote that Schmit’s paintings in a solo exhibition at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum carried “a sense of irony and the absurd,” having a “knack for expressionism with a propensity for what is surreal,” and adding, “few artists today are capable of retaining the kind of eccentric beauty, confessional poetics and sheer visual power that characterizes the work of Randall Schmit.”
Schmit, now 71 years old, is not native to the Hudson Valley. Born in New Jersey, he lived in California, Louisiana, Texas and Manhattan before moving upstate. He is currently president of the Valatie Economic Redevelopment Association (VERA) and will be opening his studio to the public for a weekend in September to benefit the Kinderhook Memorial Library.
Schmit has been making Columbia County his home with Lori Yarotsky, his partner of 20 years. In this interview, Schmit talks about his life as an artist in Valatie, where he finds inspiration and the moment he decided to pursue art as a career.
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Q: How did you choose Valatie as your home?
A: The [Manhattan] condo I was living in was being sold, so it was either move to Brooklyn or whatever was affordable at that point. A friend said, “Come up to Hudson,” so I did in 2000. I had a friend on Church Street in Valatie with a barn and cottage available for rent, so I moved there in 2005, then to Main Street in 2014, fixing up the space for a studio.
Q: Are there aspects of living in Valatie that inspire you as an artist?
A: I like Valatie a lot. The Beaver Mill Falls on one end of Main Street, and the Wild’s Falls on the other end are like bookends to our village. I often walk down to the larger Beaver Mill Falls for contemplation when I am working out an idea.
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Q: What is an average day like for you?
A: As weather and daylight permit, I get on my bike around 5:30 a.m. and ride outside for an hour. Then, breakfast, errands; and every day I’m here in the studio. I work every day. People ask me what I do. I say, “I just paint.”
Q: How do you feel about upstate New York and particularly Valatie right now?
A: It’s growing. I feel that Valatie is a good place to live. There really is a good vibe here. I’ve lived here longer than I’ve lived anywhere. I would have left if I didn’t like it. I enjoy going back to (New York City), especially if I take the train. When I lived in the city, it was more affordable.
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Q: Was there a moment when you decided to pursue a career in art?
A: I started studying architecture at Texas A&M University because I was told that I was good at math and art. Back in 1973, it was all about thinking and visualizing, studying painting, sculpture and architecture. It was really open. In my first semester, I took a painting class and I said, “This is for me.”
I got a well-rounded history of architecture, painting, sculpture — how everything developed together. It was that visionary era of thinking about the whole space, how cities could be reorganized.
When I got out of undergraduate school, I wrote a letter to Ray Parker (of The New York School of abstract expressionists) and asked, “Can I work with you?” I got into the Empire State Program and apprenticed with Ray. The whole abstract expressionist art that came out of New York was so interesting.
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Q: How would you describe the art you create?
A: It’s surrealism now, not classic surrealism; to quote the science fiction author, Rudy Rucker, he calls what he does “transrealism” — transmuting your ordinary life into science fiction. It’s really parallel worlds.
My paintings were more figurative in graduate school, abstract in the ’80s. Now, my paint handling is akin to what I was doing in the ’80s, incorporating all the figurative styles I’ve gone through.
The “Wire Man” sculpture (made during high school) was put away for 30 or 40 years. But I’m just realizing, after doing life-size figures and what I’m doing now, that I’m really going back to my own feeling about how the figure moves, my nervous system. How I see the figure hasn’t changed. It’s gotten more sophisticated, I hope. It’s still wirey, but more intricate.
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I think there is a real depth to my work, like [writer/visual artist] William S. Burroughs — funny at times, but a depth to it.
Q: Does the work of an artist get better with age?
A: I think it should. I think the longer you live, the more you can do, the better you get at it.
Q: Do you have a particular recurring memory that continues to inspire you?
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A: Lately I’ve been thinking about my life growing up in San Pedro, Calif. I lived there for 10 years, between the ages of 5 and 10. We lived in a place on a hill near the harbor. We lived halfway up the hill, so we had a view of Catalina Island, Long Beach (and) the whole harbor. There’s a feeling there. The light is different. It strikes a mood in me.
Q: If someone said to you, ‘Randall, you made a real difference here in the Hudson Valley.’ What would you hope that legacy would be?
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Q: What’s next for you?
A: Several Hudson Valley curators are including me in group shows next year, and there are some opportunities in the city. I’m working on more paintings. I hope people will come tour the studio in September and get inspired.