NYAB Event - Andrew Schoultz "Unrest"

Andrew Schoultz "Unrest"

Morgan Lehman Gallery

This event has ended.

Morgan Lehman Gallery presents "Unrest" a solo exhibition of new works by Andrew Schoultz. This is the artist's third show with Morgan Lehman Gallery.

Andrew Schoultz's UNREST stems from the artist's continuing interest in issues of global turmoil and societal angst. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, The Japanese Earthquakes and the BP oil spill all fuel this new body of work. Rather than depict literal narratives of these events, Schoultz captures their essence using an ever-expanding arsenal of pictorial symbols. Billowing clouds of smoke create an "all-over" surface reminiscent of abstract expressionism and Op-art. These stylized clouds both unify the composition and veil the reality of the horrors depicted in the background. The obscuring impact that these clouds has on the images they hide may indicate the frustration Schoultz has with the partisan and misleading journalism the press has in disseminating information to the public. Other oft-repeated symbols include crumbling and exploding brick structures and monuments, the rearing horse, the all-seeing Masonic eye, and a lit candle set against green, yellow and red camouflaged backgrounds. The lit candle - a universal sign of hope and optimism-suggests that even in uncertain times the human spirit is nothing if not optimistic. These recurring symbols function as visual cues for a loose narrative the artist has constructed through previous bodies of work. Out of this narrative, Schoultz forms an historical construct that melds contemporary calamitous events with the broad sweep of Western civilization.

Works in the show include "Melting Man (French)", 2011, a mixed media work on paper, whose subject was taken from an iconic 1941 Associated Press war photograph of a Frenchman crying. This photo was originally taken as the flags of defeated French regiments were carried down to the docks of Marseille to be sent to Algeria after the German occupation of WWII. In Schoultz's appropriation of that image, he has painted thick pink neon streams pouring from the man's brow as wooden arrows and tear-dropped eyes encircle his head. Additionally, the artist has created a life size sculptural installation of a battle-scene scenario specifically for this exhibition. The large scale work includes a hand-painted "brick" wall that has met the blast of artillery cannon.

[Image: Andrew Schoultz "Stars and Bars" (2011) Gold Leaf And Varnish On Stretched Cotton American Flag Over Panel 26h x 50w in.]