Elizabeth
Otto Schmidinger
- Sitter: Elizabeth Saunders
- Medium: Oils
- Dimensions: 1010 x 1010 cm
- Representation: The artist represents themselves
About the artist
Otto Schmidinger started his artistic career in an art studio at 16, going freelance at 21 and working for most of the large advertising agencies in Australia specialising in hyper realistic Illustration and airbrushing. He has concentrated on painting and sculpture and for the past several years. He has been a finalist in over 30 art competitions including the Doug Moran Portraiture Prize and has won prizes for portraits, landscapes and sculpture. Between commissions Schmidinger has concentrated mainly on competitions, usually in Queensland but recently in several interstate competitions. He aims to produce work that not only shows the beauty of Australia’s landscape and individuality of our people but also tries to include a different view or message in the work.
About the sitter
Elizabeth Saunders is an Artist with cerebral palsy. She practises her craft with fellow artists at the Artel studio in Redcliffe. Elizabeth’s frustration with a lack of wheelchair access to buildings and businesses has prompted her to produce a sticker that draws attention to this obvious oversight. Elizabeth and her friends distribute the stickers to people in the Brisbane area where access is limited. The orientation of the painting suggests the vertigo and helplessness felt by wheelchair users when being manoeuvred up or down stairs.
