February 15, 2022

Episode 17: Conversation with artist Robert Schefman

1 hour 6 minutes

.Armin and Valerie had the distinct honor of interviewing artist Robert Schefman about his life as an artist, his new body of work, The Secrets Project, and his recent notification of being a finalist in The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today exhibition at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery opening this spring.

Born and raised in Detroit, Robert Schefman earned a BFA in sculpture from Michigan State University and an MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa. He lived and worked in New York City for fourteen years, returning to the Detroit area in 1990. His work has been included in exhibitions at the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; The Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Fort Wayne, IN; Oakland University Art Gallery, Rochester, MI; Midland Center for the Arts, Midland, MI; The Krasl Art Center, St. Joseph, MI; Manifest Research Gallery, Cincinnati, OH; Foley Square/ Federal Plaza, New York City; the Brooklyn Army Terminal, New York City; Ward’s Island, New York City; and United Nations Plaza, New York City. Grants awarded include the Pollack-Krasner Foundation, the Bernard Maas Foundation, the Arts Foundation of Michigan, and the State of Michigan Creative Artist Grant.

Schefman’s drawings, paintings, and sculptures are in multiple private and public collections, including the Eli and Edythe Broad Museum of Art, East Lansing, MI; the Mint Museum of Art, Charlotte, NC; the Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI; the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Lansing, MI; and the University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA.

The Secrets Project

Robert Schefman's recent series of paintings and drawings explore the hidden world of secrets. Using social media as a device to reach a large audience, Schefman posted a request asking followers to send him one personal secret that he could use as a subject or an element in his paintings. The response was immediate and revealing. More than one hundred anonymous secrets were sent through the internet or by mail to the artist’s post office box.

Using the private information gathered from strangers’ letters as a point from which to investigate the conceptual nature of secrets, Schefman explored the specific responses and began to develop the ideas for this series over the course of several years. Many of the pieces in the Secrets exhibition refer directly to the actual secrets touchingly revealed in the anonymous letters or messages received by the artist. Additionally poignant were the descriptions of relief or catharsis brought on by confessing personal baggage, often for the first time.

Here are links for Robert Schefman:

Robert Schefman: Website

David Klein Gallery: Artist Robert Schefman

The Outwin 2022: American Portraiture Today

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