A hare sits in the bow of the boat head and ears hanging slightly forward, and it’s unclear whether he’s sad. He is certainly unaware of the huge wave which will sweep over the boat in the next moment.

The rest of the crew sharing the same fate and are cowering at the rear of the boat have a sense of foreboding. Scepticism and fear can be seen in their eyes. An odd crew, some more animal-like than human, masked and maybe the hare isn’t one because face and hands are clearly human.

The object „The Wave“, is a good example of the world which Christian Schmidt (ChriSch) engraves out of his coloured-glass layers. They are snapshots of peculiar situations which clearly relate or resist interpretation. They can all make use of the ambiguity, the chance to turn each moment of human life to a good or bad purpose. The viewer recognises the ambivalence of his own existence mirrored in theirs. Layers of collective unsconsiousness are touched on, the abyss guessed at. but the strange people who romp about on ChriSch’s glass pieces always emit a lightness which counter balances the endangering existential potential which, in their confusion they are exposed to.

The same in the vase which is shown as an unfurling image. At first glance it’s clear. The mother form with the necessary view from the tower – her opponent with the devil-head-mandolin and the piercing look, helped by a group of demons – on the floor an object of fear – a fight between good and evil – maybe the mother who wants to protect the son from disaster – a story with a predictably sad ending for the mother is standing on extremely shaky ground. Yet things are not quite that straightforward. On closer inspection this kindly mother is a peculiar being. A mask which she has obviously taken away from her face is hanging from heavy ribbons round her upper torso. Her lower body is naked and on closer inspection it isn’t clear whether she is female. Even her opponent is strange and of undetermined sex. His face doesn’t seem to be demonic or deceitful more likeable. this is how with every turn of the object, ChriSch’s stories start a new journey of discovery. If one succombs they float towards us like our dreasms, and like them are obscure and baffling. Because of that they can integrate the consious and the unconscious.

ChriSch accepts his figures even though he satirises them uncompromisingly. He always keeps them at a distance yet still deals with them lovingly. This is the root for the background humour which is typical of his work. The viewer can then let himself be taken on a journey into the light and shadow of his inner world. Erich Fromm says, “That which is normal in the unconscious in the waking state is made conscious in art”. Beyond the skilfulness as an engraver Christian Schmidt crosses the frontier between the conscious and the unconscious in his work.

At present the hare in the boat is travelling around the world. It took part in the International Glass Prize in Kanazawa, Japan where in 1995 ChriSch won the second prize. How the Japanese view this hare which is so different in Japanese mythology is as unknown as their reaction to this boat’s crew, because on the side ChriSch is alluding to the famous colour woodcut by Hokusai called the “Big Wave”.

Christan Schmidt is represented by the following galleries: Compositions Gallery, SF (USA); First Glas Galerie, Munich; Galerie B, Sinzheim/Baden-Baden; Galerie Herrmann, Drachselsried; Galerie Kurzendörfer, Pilsach, Galerie Max 21, Iphofen (D); Galerie Neusser, Vienna; glas.galerie.linz, Linz (A); Glas-Kabinett, Hausen (CH).