In Bogged Down the artist moves through a series of highly atmospheric locations; new metaphors of his identity are revealed with each change of scene. The film switches abruptly from the introductory sequence of a party on the balcony of his flat in the big city, suddenly showing footage of an autumnal field, a Baroque landscaped park and an old spa resort.

Individual motifs from the film also make an appearance in Erik Schmidt’s paintings. Whilst the artist struggles through the thicket of a hedge in Bogged Down, in a series of paintings the dense structure of trees and bushes is overlaid upon the figures dotted around a park (statues, an equestrian monument, figures adorning a fountain), the contours blurring amidst the painterly brushwork.

Various media – painting, film and photography – are deftly combined in his works.