Pieter Schoolwerth
Thee 83 Altered States ov Americka: Chapter 1 & 2
1995-1996
Pencil, colored pencil and paint pen on paper
48 x 24 inches
121.9 x 61 cm
Central to American artist Pieter Schoolwerth’s (b. 1970) in St. Louis, lives in NYC practice is a reflection of the human being, as it finds itself suspended between stasis and flux, and all the complexity and fragmentation that entails. Schoolwerth’s first exhibition at a European institution encompasses paintings, reliefs and films that depict the continual change in the ways people interact with one another and their surroundings. Like no other artist, Schoolwerth exposes these changes by combining art-historical themes with the aesthetics of virtual worlds, deftly merging Old Master-style techniques with the digital possibilities of contemporary image composition.
Comprising a total of sixty works, the survey begins in the 1990s when Schoolwerth, just recently graduated from Cal Arts, was creating psychedelic works and installations, (and) inventing his own alternative cartography. Even then, Schoolwerth was bringing together the realms of high culture and subculture, thereby melding the ritual with the rational-conceptual. We find him, in these early works, already exploring the influence of the then still-emerging Internet, particularly its impact on the reception and constitution of pictorial representation.
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
Installation view, Pieter Schoolwerth: No Body Get a Head, Kunstverein Hannover, 2021
As Schoolwerth continued to develop his ideas, he went on to found Wierd Records parallel to his work as a visual artist. The independent music label garnered fame for its parties, live music and performance art events in the 2000s, strongly influencing the New York club scene. This exhibition is the first to relate the artist’s various fields of activity with one another, demonstrating how over the course of his career, he has not only continually explored the possibilities of figurative painting, but also the realms of music and performance. The survey offers visitors an in-depth look at Pieter Schoolwerth’s complex oeuvre and shows him to be one of the most astute chroniclers of his generation.
Pieter Schoolwerth
Portrait of “The Healing of Tobit”, Schematic (after Strozzi)
2011
Oil, acrylic, inkjet print ink and chalk on canvas
38 x 53 inches
96.5 x 134.6 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Study for "After Troy 1"
2012
Marker on acetate and paper collage
Framed Dimensions:
15 5/8 x 13 5/8 inches
39.7 x 34.6 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Study for "After Troy 10"
2012
Marker on acetate and paper collage
Unframed:
13 x 10.5 inches
33 x 26.7 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Study for Portrait of “The Five Senses” (after Linard)
2010
Marker on acetate and paper collage
Unframed:
10.5 x 13 inches
26.7 x 33 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Study for Portrait “Still Life With Beef, Bowl of Ham and Vegetables, and Receptacles" (after Melendez)
2010
Marker on acetate and paper collage
Unframed:
10.87 x 13.27 inches
27.6 x 33.7 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Portrait of “Barge On A River At Sunset” (after Pynacker)
2010
Oil on canvas
66 x 54 inches
167.6 x 137.2 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Portrait of “Meal With Pike’s Head And Hazelnuts” (after Flegel)
2010
Oil on canvas
38 x 45 inches
96.5 x 114.3 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
No Record #2
2015
Oil, acrylic, and inkjet on canvas
47.5 x 58 inches
120.7 x 147.3 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth
Model for “Underground”
2017
Enamel on wood
49 x 59 x 7 1/4 inches
124.5 x 149.9 x 18.4 cm
Pieter Schoolwerth, Thee Space Between (1991) image still from video
Pieter Schoolwerth, The Ballad of Ion Lupescu: Or 122 Minutes to Live, image still from video
Pieter Schoolwerth, Your Vacume Sucks, Image still from video
Pieter Schoolwerth, Your Vacume Sucks, Image still from video
Pieter Schoolwerth, The Casting Agent, Image still from video
Pieter Schoolwerth, The Casting Agent, Image still from video
