Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt
Born	1948 Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States
Nationality	American
Known for	Collage, Mixed Media

Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt (born 1948) is an American artist who is also a veteran of the Stonewall riots.

Lanigan-Schmidt's artwork incorporates materials such as tinsel, foil, cellophane, saran wrap and glitter, embracing kitsch and intentionally tacky. His work has been compared to that of Florine Stettheimer, who used cellophane in her sets for the Gertrude Stein/Virgil Thomson opera Four Saints in Three Acts; his art was included in an exhibit of artists influenced by Stettheimer. His work has also been likened to the religious-themed tinfoil-covered thrones of art brut artist James Hampton. He is sometimes grouped with the Pattern and Decoration art movement, though he says that is "retrospective craziness". His art is noted for its incorporation of Catholic iconography.Joe Brainard is also cited as a forerunner with his use of decorative collage and queer and religious themes.

Lanigan-Schmidt attended Pratt Institute in 1965-66, was rejected by Cooper Union, and attended School of Visual Arts.

Lanigan-Schmidt began by exhibiting his art in his own apartment; an early major exhibit in 1969 was titled The Sacristy of the Hamptons. Another home exhibit was titled The Summer Palace of Czarina Tatlina. In these early home exhibits, and also in at least one later recreation of an early exhibit, he guided visitors through the exhibit in drag in character as art collector Ethel Dull.

While Lanigan Schmidt's art is not widely known, he has received critical acclaim.

Reasons for Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt's art not reaching a wider audience totally elude me. This is major, major work, reflecting and augmenting today's dialogue in a unique and commanding voice. Many artists, including a generation of Lanigan-Schmidt's students, have been repeatedly amazed, inspired and guided by its panache, rapier-sharp wit, subversiveness and opulent beauty.

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