Andrew Schoultz – by Jonathan Robinson

You know, for people who claim to be artists, most of the people listed under the drawing section of the Artist List page can’t design a website to save their life. As a person who plans to go into graphic design, it pains me to see a website as bland as this one: http://www.maryclarefoa.com/index.html. Maybe they’re kept ridiculously simple for the sake of not detracting from the art pieces themselves, but I mean really, would it kill you to add some color? Marc Bauer’s website had a pretty trippy background though: http://www.marcbauer.net/news.php. But I digress. Let’s get to the topic at hand before I go off on a tangent rant about web design.

With my trusty Google ever at the ready, I spent the better half of my night searching for every single artist’s name under “Drawing” on the Artist List page until I managed to find someone I liked (gotta love these research projects). Anywho, I managed to whittle it down to a man by the name of Andrew Schoultz. Schoultz was born is Milwaukee, WI. He attended and graduated from the Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA with a BFA, and is currently living there today. Or at least, that’s where all the biographies of him have him living at.

To give you an idea of what exactly his focus is when it comes to art, allow me to give you this quote taken directly from his website. “Andrew Schoultz combines meticulous rendering with imagery both familiar and fantastical. Themes of chaos and destruction forewarn current political and environmental climate, taking form in large-scale installations, murals, paintings, sculptures and works on paper.” (Source 1) Basically what that means is he sticks a bunch of stuff in his artwork that he picks to represent the crap going on in the world at any given point and arranges them all into what typically equates to one massive work of art. But enough of me explaining. Let’s get to the part of the project we’re all looking forward to, PICTURES!

The Center (Tree), 2012At first glance, one might assume this piece is simply about how America only cares about money, hence the American flag and dripping gold leaf. But then there’s the tree and horses and such. I figured the horses had something to do with war, and the tree was meant to be a symbol of hope or something, but let me give you a description of the painting from a more “poetic” source. “The Center (Tree) is a mixed-media piece that uses acrylic paint and gold leaf on an American flag stretched over a wooden panel. The piece narrates a story of fear, power, and men, with the hidden tree as a symbol of strength and the centrality of life…” (Source 4) This piece also bears a striking resemblance to one of his more recent pieces, Gold Dripping Flag (2013).

The Sacred Tree of Nowhere, 2013

Take out the flag from the first pic and you’ve basically got this. I imagine the idea is the same for both, war and hope and all that good stuff, just less ‘Murica.

Meditations Under Stress, 2013Hand of Doom, 2013If you haven’t noticed by now, this guy has somewhat of a fetish for guys bowing towards stuff and horses. This imagery seems to be quite common in a lot of Schoultz’s works. One thing unique to his piece, Hand of Doom, is the hand depicted in the very middle. I’d like to think it has something to do with God, as the raised hand typically has something to do with religious imagery. This also leads me to speculate that there might even be a connection to the horses Schoultz likes to use in his artwork and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. This would tie in nicely with his overlying theme of the chaos and destruction going on in the world.

Floating in the Green (Currency is but a number on a screen), 2013

This one probably has something to do with how money is all the world thinks about now.

Beast (Head Projection), 2013Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to this one. It’s a beast that looks like a panther with a bunch of repeating heads. And I think it’s shooting fire out of its eyes…

Radiating Eye, 2013More horses, spirals, and eyes shooting fire.

Repetition, Repetition (spinning water), 2013Double Mast Ship, 2013Tornado (Up In The Air), 2013These last few seem to focus on natural disasters such as volcano eruptions and twisters. Schoultz’s usual horse and eye-fire imagery is plentiful in each of them. He has a very unique way of drawing water which involves repeatedly drawing the waves that comprise it. Also, his piece, Tornado, reminded me of the movie Twister.