Esteban Schimpf (b. Bogotá, Colombia, 1986) grew up in Colombia and went on to receive his degree from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he currently lives and works between Los Angeles, California and Bogotá, Colombia. At its core, Schimpf’s practice is a meditation on faith and art— two elemental concepts inextricably linked for the artist. Grappling with questions such as “What is art?” and “What role does art play in society?” Schimpf strives to simplify his answers, approaching his practice with humble materials, uncomplicated expectations, and an almost childlike earnestness. Schimpf trained as an abstract painter before coming to portrait photography, a fact that is evident as the formal organization of his compositions echo the style of modernist non-objective geometric painters such as Piet Mondrian. While he takes photographs to create his works, they do not function as photography. Initiating his process by taking studio portraits of strangers, Schimpf cloaks his subjects in non-toxic paint or the same flour he bakes bread with each morning, merely using photography as a means to document such intimate performances. Through his images, Schimpf transforms the psychic experience of a contemporary world wrought with disillusionment into something tangible, drawing attention to the joy of discovery and reverence for life at its most essential.

Schimpf’s work has been featured internationally in exhibitions such as Icarus and Other Mythologies, SKETCH, Bogotá (2016) FBI, Arturo Bandini, Los Angeles (2015), Fruits and Plains, Visual Artist Group, Los Angeles (2015), UNTITLED, curated by Omar López-Chahoud: Present Co., Miami (2014), Get On The Pool, La Piscina, Los Angeles (2015) California Dreaming, curated by Fred Hoffmann at Portugal Arte 10, Lisbon (2010), Thanks For the Mammaries, ForYourArt, Los Angeles (2014), I Danced For You, Hanson Stern, New York (2012), Hang In There, curated by Jason Lazurus, Chicago (2011), Billboard Project, curated by Lauri Firstenberg and la BEAST gallery.