Sebastian
Schmidt

I come from a small Franconian town called Bamberg, where I was born in 1983. My parents, both architects, raised me creatively from an early age. While I was at school, I began to design posters for various events in addition to my art lessons.
In 2003 I watched the bombing of Baghdad live on TV during the Iraq war. The feeling of watching a fictitious show irritated me so much that I wanted to deal artistically with the topic of media perception and war. I painted the picture of the television screen and hung it up at school. A big debate followed, the picture was published on a magazine cover and I realized that art can make a difference. And so it soon became clear that I wanted to develop professionally in this direction.
However, it was evident to me that I wanted to receive a creative, but also broad and practical education. That's why I moved to Berlin after finishing school in 2004 to study communication and graphic design at the Design Academy Berlin. My intermediate diploma won a well endowed prize and I was allowed to advertise for the university at trade fairs and workshops. 
In 2006 I started working for the then most renowned German advertising agency Jung Von Matt. It was here that I first came into contact with the staging of products. Whether soft drinks, cars or soaps – after some time I was able to make every object appear desirable. Here, for the first time, I developed the idea of artistically reprocessing the theme of the threat, which had already occupied me a few years earlier during the bombing of Baghdad, in the form of the "missiles" series: Instead of the consequences of the war, I wanted to show what you wouldn't otherwise see: huge, modern weapon systems. And since it was impossible to photograph these strictly guarded objects, I had to learn 3D programs (CGI) to bring my vision to life.
After my diploma I finally worked for a few years as art director at the German advertising agency thjnk. Here I was very lucky to be able to look over the shoulder of the best advertising photographers and 3D studios. I was able to gain a lot of experience and knowledge, without which my current work would have been impossible. 
6 years ago I founded my own design agency with my business partner Jan Schulz-Berners: KRAVT – among other things with the aim to gain more and more time for art.Over the years, the "missiles" series had slowly grown into an impressive series of large-format works. The quality of the renderings as well as the printing and framing met the highest demands. 
In 2018 it was decided that it was time to go public with the work. In order to get the right frame for this, we founded KRAVT Gallery. On September 6, 2018, the new rooms were finally opened in Berlin Mitte with a large vernissage for my first exhibition "Beyond Visual Range".Shortly afterwards, an artwork from the "missiles" series from 2800 applicants won 2nd place at the Blooom Award – Germany's largest open international art prize. The almost four-meter work was exhibited for several days at Art Düsseldorf. The prize is associated with a mentoring program for my further artistic career. 
My goal now is to regularly complete a new series of works – of course completely in CGI.