WHILE THE GLACIERS MOVE AND THE TIDES CHANGE, MIRACLES WILL SURELY BE WORKED.
Andrew Schoultz returns to Denmark with his most ambitious exhibition project to date, revolving
around mighty structures, shattered dreams, holy hypocrites and heartfelt hope. The title of the show While the Glaciers Move and the Tides Change, Miracles Will Surely be Worked is as paradoxical as the themes explored. The events surrounding the election of the new American president intertwines with global politics, worldwide wars, the catastrophic climate changes and the complex world in general. As Schoultz says: “I am filled with hope upon this dawning Obama Presidency, but I also remain skeptical at the same time. It would be silly to believe that anyone, person or thing could reverse or fix the global damage that has been done, as a result of the Bush administration over the past 8 years. In fact it would be a Miracle.”
In While the Glaciers Move and the Tides Change, Miracles Will Surely be Worked Schoultz renders a magnificent mythological map of battles between hope and fear, history and future, enlightenment and ignorance. Recounting tragedies, myths and tales of the past, he reminds the present of the dark side that inevitably always accompanies the sunny side of the street. And he urges people to concentrate on the realities of the world instead of being lured by the golden calf’s siren song.
A penchant for signs and symbols still prevails in Schoultz’s art as he incorporates medieval maps,Mideastern miniature painting, biblical symbolism and re-interpreted folk art with national monuments,statues and tombs. His restless and chaotic energy prevails, but is now contrasted with a quiet, serene and calm tone leaving the viewer suspended in a dichotomy between Dionysus and Apollo. While the Glaciers Move and the Tides Change, Miracles Will Surely be Worked is a narrative installation with numerous individual works, some temporal, some tangible. In this way the viewer becomes as much a participant as an observer and the ephemeral element underlines the importance of the moment. Mixed media paintings on wood panels, works on paper, wall paintings and sculptural installations all tell stories as individual pieces and at the same time they work cohesively together to form a collective and whole experience for the viewer. The show embodies the micro and macro structures of the world. Schoultz pays respect to the renaissance tradition of mythology and narrative, while reflecting on the power of the individual and the collective mass in the civil world.
Andrew Schoultz has exhibited numerous places in the US e.g. at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New
York, Roberts and Tilton in LA and Boston Center for the Arts in Boston. His work was recently
acquired for the permanent collection of SFMOMA – the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
Andrew Schoultz will also be participating in the 2009 Havana Biennial in Cuba, and an upcoming
exhibition in the Hyde Park Center for Arts in Chicago.
Furthermore he is famous for his public projects, not least in the poverty stricken Mission District in San Francisco and his projects in Indonesia. Recently Gingko Press published a book on Andrew Schoultz’s artistic career entitled Ulysses – the artwork of Andrew Schoultz.