The painted ground always plays a significant role in the work, in that the mark making takes on greater importance observed as a factor of difference: marks on a ground . In this newest work the process of composition is reversed, whereas the white oil ground is applied over an acrylic underpainting. As such, the picture plane becomes a masking agent obscuring some elements of the underpainting, allowing others to remain, while also creating geometric rhythms.
KJ Schumacher is a multidisciplinary artist working in Birmingham, AL. He received a B.A. in Fine Art from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and trained as a guest student at Parsons School of Design in Paris, France. He completed an MFA from the Transart Institute (New York and Berlin) and Plymouth University (UK) in 2016. Schumacher maintains adjunct faculty status at the University of North Alabama in Florence, where he served as a curriculum designer and professor in Foundation Drawing and Figure Drawing from August 2021 to May 2023. He previously held teaching positions at Montgomery Bell Academy (2007-2015) and Valor College Prep (2018-2020) where he served as a Founding Teacher and curriculum designer in Visual Art. His work is included in collections throughout the Southeast and has been exhibited in group and solo shows in Nashville, Los Angeles, London, New York, Berlin, and Miami.
Schumacher’s praxis consists of making and collecting marks and objects, and re-presenting them in made and found situations - inside and outside the studio. These works elaborate on the studio process and build upon a belief that the physical mark holds an intrinsic importance in human experience. Schumacher collects source material from studio remnants and by way of a generative methodology of chance-based selections.
