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LA MURALIST ANDREW SCHOULTZ HITS A SKATE PARK

4/29/2018

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Andrew Schoultz on top of his world. Photo: PaintThisDesert

​Andrew Schoultz rode a Las Vegas skate park with his brush.

He painted eyes and patterns on bright yellow bursts with broad red strokes, playing with the space like a skateboarder doing tricks on a rail. Schoultz adapted his style to other skate parks, and now Winchester has his signature look,  a simpler read of his work. A graphic art version of his complex paintings, murals, and installations.  A skateboarder himself, the Los Angeles-based artist works with the structure of skate parks designed to simulate random infiltration in public space, which brings street art back to a supportive  subculture.

The infrastructure also changes the idea of murals as art just on walls. It is also a visual form for sloping and horizontal surfaces.

Often his art in public space or in galleries is a comment on globalization through relic references, such as illuminated manuscripts and ancient cartography. At Winchester, the use of bold line and form are simpler. In some spots they appear as if they were applied by skateboard wheels that were dipped in paint. That allows Schoultz to still tap into his style of fanciful narratives as a leave-behind.

The untitled public art was coordinated by Clark County’s public art programming under the county’s arts plan and The Barrick Museum of Art. It’s the first stage of an exhibition that starts at Winchester before riding into The Barrick Museum of Art as an installation over the summer. 

It is all reflective of how street art and skaters share a long timeline.  In the early 70s, when artists took to the streets to paint ideas, suburban pools were emptied to accommodate skaters.  Skate park design is based on that drain and infiltration, which led to artists painting works that complimented color and movement that is physical and emotional.

The new work at Winchester is part of that tradition. White patches shaped as bursts of energy were painted on bright yellow by a crew made up of project staff and volunteers from the Las Vegas art community.

Using a rich red, Schoultz painted the major illustrations with gestural language. The main ramp has the lead single eye, a concrete cyclops, that watches over other eyes that gaze back. Rhythmic lines give each pupil, or the grey negative space, a vibration. Other spots look like an opening to an exposed yellow brick road with drops of grey and white. When painting the larger ramp, Schoultz sat on the slope, sunglasses cutting off glare, towel preventing his neck from matching the red paint. He worked the brush like a skater doing maneuvers, making the hard surface work with methodical play and pressure to control the flow: a movement across the surface. Skater and painter were as one.

He guided others in the adding details, like the brick line patterns, or poles treated with red aerosol.

The artist, county, and university successfully practiced an established institutional connection. In 2011, when The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles held their exhibition “Art in The Streets,” they noted the significance of street art to skateboarding aesthetic, including having pro skater Lance Mountain and artist Geoff McFetridge produce a skate ramp design. Just last month, artist-activist Ai Weiwei and street artist Shepard Fairey designed skateboards with political commentary.

Though Schoultz does not shy away from a spray and counter spray of social commentary, the new design at Winchester is about adding color to space that compliments movement, a recreational version of an underground aesthetic.
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Above: Schoultz brought his own board to ride the murals. ​
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​Andrew Schoultz
​UNLV Marjorie Barrick
​Museum of Art

East Gallery
Andrew Schoultz
​"In Process: Every Movement Counts"
June 2 - September 15, 2018
Winchester Cultural Center
(Skate Park)

​

Disclosure: My GA at UNLV was mainly at the Barrick Museum of Art, and a former contributor for Clark County’s public art programming. That said, I agree with the critique by Daniel, 16, who visited the park when it reopened April 21. In a positive affirmation of the skate park's new look the skateboarder said: “This is sick.”
​
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'KOREA 76'  / PHOTOGRAPHY BY EUGENE ROLFE

4/28/2018

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Photo: Eugene Rolfe
​

“Korea 76”
Photography by Eugene Rolfe
The Studio @ Sahara West Gallery
9600 West Sahara Avenue
Curated by Gig Depio
May 1 – July 15
 
Opening Reception
May 3, 2018
5:30 - 7:30 p.m.
“Korea 76” is a timely  exhibition of photography that documented a rural South Korea, long touched by Western culture, at a time when the U.S. was pulling back its military presence.
 
Two years ago, artist Gig Depio was in the garage of Eugene Rolfe. He was helping change tires on autocross bikes when he saw thumbnails of photographs Rolfe snapped in South Korea. Depio saw how the photos subject matter could be as social realism source material for new paintings.  “[We] finally found a box with all the negatives. Some of them never printed before and in bad shape,” recalls Depio who recovered the negatives, some stuck to plastic sleeves, and had them digitized and restored.
 
“There’s almost 2000 photos I had to choose from,” says Depio. “I had already started making studies based on these photos, more of the political and economic influence and its eventual influence to culture that persists broadly in so many ways, especially today.” He already has one painting completed from the trove of found images.
 
(Mounting an exhibition out of recovered images will seem familiar to anyone following this site. It does happen.)
 
Curated by Depio, ‘Korea 76’ arrives during a historical week. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un says he will shut down his nuclear test site in May, an announcement that came after a summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, in which it was said that the Korean War would be declared over, 65 years after fighting ended.
 
“When discovering these photos more than two years ago, never did we imagine what would be happening now between North and South Korea,” said Depio. “The involvement of the U.S. in the talks makes this show relevant.”
 
“Korea 76” opens May 1.  The artist reception is May 3.
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UNLV MFA OPEN STUDIOS

4/13/2018

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FIELD NOTES: My MFA career at UNLV winds down with an invitation to the public to visit the artist’s studios, in my case a former classroom in the oldest building on campus, Grant Hall. The current MFA Candidates are across the street in GRA, a former Carl's Jr . . . As the pitch says the evening will be a way to see MFA's work in progress. For us short-timers it is a chance to hold a fire sale. ANOTHER PITCH: I planned to use the last few weeks to get final studio time in, so there may be non-Bunko stuff to see. Or you can pick up a BUNKO box for ten bucks.  Some are spoken for. A few will be available.

ALSO: That evening will also be the closing reception for the talented Nanda Sharif-Pour’s MFA Midway Exhibition, “Alienation.” That will be from 6:30 to 9 p.m.  . . . Incoming Artists: There is exciting work by UNLV BFA students Amanda Keating, Clarice Cuda, Julie Meyers, Nicole Weber, Sarah Arnold and Ty Suksangasophon. They will talk about their work at the Marjorie Barrick Museum of Art Auditorium at 6 p.m. The exhibition and opening reception at Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery will be from 7:30 to 9 p.m. . .  Last but not least:  Laura Brennan's Thesis exhibition, "Transience," will be from June 8 - June 22. The reception will be June 15, 2018, at the Donna Beam Fine Art Gallery.
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    ABOVE: Gig Depio
    “Through the Muddy”
    2017-18 480” x 144”
    Oil on Canvas
    ​Moapa Valley

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