Artist Bio:
Joey Schmidt is an artist and arts administrator based in Kansas City, MO. Cool, persevering, and prudent, his practice circles themes of time, memory, and the fragile negotiations between what is hidden and what is revealed. Schmidt uses painting, printmaking, and photography to transform fleeting moments into lasting expressions of identity and connection. His work balances tenderness with humor and theatricality, inviting others to see themselves reflected in color, form, and dialogue.
Passionate about accessibility in the arts, Schmidt extends this ethos into community engagement, using his leadership to foster belonging, dialogue, and shared discovery. Through his studio brand Studio Buddy, he cultivates a space for painting, collaboration, and future community sessions rooted in creativity and connection. Schmidt is a 2016 graduate of the University of Louisville’s Hite Art Institute and a 2025 Artist INC Fellow with Charlotte Street Foundation and Mid-America Arts Alliance. He also serves as Director of Corporate & Grant Partnerships at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.Find him on Instagram at @joeyyyschmidt and @studiooobuddy.
Artist Statement:
My work begins in the small details that linger - an overheard word, a gesture between friends, or a song that stays - and grows into paintings, prints, and photographs that hold memory and emotion in color and form. I work with the tools of my family’s creative lineage, from printmaking and photography to the painter’s palette, layering them with symbols, text, and graphic overlays that trace connections across time. Film photography and framing often anchor my process, capturing moments as fragments that later resurface on canvas: recollections preserved as shapes, figures, or still lifes that point toward deeper relationships. I treat color as both prayer and dialogue, introducing tones to one another until they reveal kinship, tension, or resolution.
For years, I buried truths in my work, quiet inscriptions hidden beneath paint or pencil, so I could express them without ever being known. Through my practice, I aim to restore what feels lost, and when repair is impossible, I rebuild through making. What began as a private code has become an open offering, rooted in the desire to be authentically seen while giving others the chance to recognize themselves in the process. Humor, rhythm, and theatricality move through my compositions, balancing tenderness with play. What once lived as hidden messages beneath layers of paint has become a practice of saying things out loud: art as a declaration of self. Ultimately, my work seeks connection: a way of affirming this is me, and in it, I hope you see you.