Artist Statement
Disc Portal presents a continuation of the Object/Window/Both/Neither series, exploring negative space in the landscape. The disc punches a hole in its surroundings, emphasizing what is there, by pronouncing what it is not. The sculpture hovering in the landscape creates a strange optical illusion of a void, or black moon.
Artist Bio
Aili Schmeltz is a sculptor and painter that splits her time in between Los Angeles and Joshua Tree. She studied at UCLA, earned her MFA from the University of Arizona, and a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. She has exhibited nationally at galleries such as Edward Cella Art and Architecture, ACME, Commonwealth and Council, and Pasadena Museum of California Art in California, Friedman Benda and Jen Bekman in New York, and Museum of Contemporary Art Tucson; internationally in cities such as Berlin, Tokyo, Barcelona, London, and Zurich. Schmeltz has been awarded grants such as the Pollock Krasner Grant, California Community Foundation Grant, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant. Residencies attended include the Bemis Center, Sculpture Center, Vermont Studio Center, Scuola Internazionale di Grafica (Venice, Italy), Espronceda Center for Art and Culture (Barcelona), Takt Kunstprojektraum (Berlin), and Babayan Cultural House (Cappadocia, Turkey). She is the Founder of Outpost Projects and teaches at Otis College of Art and Design.
Westside Trail at Lena Street