An Interview with Pete Schulte

posted July 3, 2010 in residents  |  tags: not here not there, pete schulte, residents  |  no comments

Iowa City based artist, Pete Schulte, recently completed a residency at threewalls.  Pete's past and current work is number of projects, including drawings done in graphite and pastel, installation, and objects.  Towards the end of his stay, Pete opened his studio to the public, showing an installation of his own work and "Not Here Not There", a group show he organized within the studio space and back rooms of threewalls.  More of his work can be seen at schulteprojects.com.

Having already completed two other residencies this year, the studio seems to be an important part of your work.  Can you describe your process in making work? 

Drawing is the cornerstone of my practice.  It is my daily activity and the point of departure for all of my projects.  From there, a variety of activities commence, including sculptural, social, site-conditioned, time-based, and curatorial projects.  I don’t privilege any particular media or work from a specific position - theoretical or otherwise.  I simply try to move through the world with eyes, heart, and mind open. As experiences and ideas impress themselves upon me they often find tributaries into the work that I make. In so far as the studio is concerned, I’m less interested in the idea of The Studio (writ large), than I am in the idea of collapsing the distance that exists between where the work is made, and where and how it is presented. 

I’ve noticed that the studio space also comes into play in your documentation. Shadows cast on drawings are thoughtfully placed, and windowsills become backdrops.  How would you describe the role of the time and of the physical space around you in your work? 

The conditions of a given site are important to me regardless of whether they are in my studio, a traditional exhibition space, or perhaps something less rigorously defined.  In the contemporary artworld, site-specificity has become increasingly, and to my mind, rather narrowly articulated by mere responses to a given set of architectural conditions. While architectural conditions obviously inform one’s response to site, the potential field of inquiry is vastly larger.  It seems far more interesting to me when artists working in this realm expand their line of inquiry to include the potential psychological, historical, political, social, and/or spiritual implications involved in working with a particular site.

Can one frame a space and time the way one traditionally frames a drawing?  On some level it’s a very simple question, but it has continued to fuel my exploration and practice. My studio has generally been the arena where this process unfolds.  On a practical level, treating the space and time as the work helps me to keep anything and everything in play and worthy of consideration - be it the drawings, a sculpture, a windowpane, a pile of records, a stone given by my daughter, etc.    

What have you been working on during your stay at threewalls? 

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about a book called The Drop Edge Of Yonder, by Rudolph Wurlitzer. At the beginning of the novel, the main character is cursed to live between life and death, not being able to discern the difference between the two. Not Here Not There is the name of the character that places the curse, and it is also the name that I’ve adopted for the installation at threewalls.  Between leaving my home and losing someone very dear to me, I’ve been struggling with an inevitable sense of drift; questioning where I am, reflecting on what’s been lost, at what cost, taking one-step, then another, and, invariably, trying to move a little further up the road. An obvious metaphor for life is also a reality that’s being compressed into a very short period of time for me. While I may not have been completely conscious of it while making the work, this sense of drift, loss, reflection, and uncertainty seems to be coursing through everything that I’ve done over the last few months - sometimes more apparent, sometimes less. 

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Pete Schulte : Not Here Not There

posted June 19, 2010 in events, residents  |  tags: not here not there, openings, pete schulte  |  no comments

Resident artist, Pete Schulte, exhibited an installation of his work as well as a group show, Not Here Not There, in the residency space and back rooms of threewalls on June 4th.   Curated by Pete Schulte, the group show included the work of Mariah Dekkenga, Julia Schwadron, John Englebrecht, Sophia Toal-Schulte, John Dilg, Josh Anderson, David Dunlap, Stacie Wilson, Noel Allen, and Claire Pentecost’s Debris.

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Anna Mayer: THE PEOPLE CONCERNED

posted May 8, 2010 in events, news, residents  |  tags: anna mayer, openings, residents  |  no comments

If you're in LA, be sure to check out Anna Mayer's show, The People Concerned.  Anna completed a threewalls residency last summer as part of her ongoing collaborative, CamLab.  More information about the show is below.

THE PEOPLE CONCERNED 
Anna Mayer

4755 York Blvd Los Angeles CA 90042

May 8 - 30, 2010 
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 8, 7-10 pm
Closing Event: to be held at Tree and Space, Sunday, May 30 from 4-7 pm

For her solo exhibition, The People Concerned, Anna Mayer will present numerous works made for the gallery space as well as performance documents from events and moments occurring in the weeks leading up to the show. All works emanate from Mayer’s attempt to establish an “outcantatory” practice that uses language, fire, and intention to propose relationships encouraging embodiment and the rejection of discreet, linear modes of reception. Wavering between collectivity and introspection, the exhibition offers different access points for experiential discovery. The works included articulate a functional, insistently generative process taking place between people, elements, and hands touching objects. 

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