Emerita Cornelia Schulz at the Patricia Sweetow Gallery
November 4 - December 16, 2017
Cornelia Schulz continues to present a vibrant vigor unique to artists of any age. For over 46 years she has honed her skills in small format paintings of complex shape and color. Studying sculpture at Los Angeles County Art Institute in the 1950’s, Schulz learned 3-D modeling techniques in steel and wood which proved important in subsequent years. Her altered rectilinear shapes are hand built wood supports, stretched with canvas. Using a knife, Schulz slices and swirls paint into a complex brew of color, gestural oppositions and hair raising improbabilities. The paintings while clearly 2-D, hold the viewers attention as sculptural objects of unerring integrity, a unique distillation of intent and accident only a master can impart.
Kenneth Baker, who has reviewed every Cornelia Schulz exhibition since the 1990’s comments, “For some years, Schulz’s art seemed to build and comment on the project of activating paintings’ perimeters that connects Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Elizabeth Murray (1940-2007), among others. Like those predecessors, Schulz treated the outer contours of a painting as a troubled boundary between what she could control and the uncontrollable, between domains of intended meaning and of misreading and chance.”
Cornelia Schulz influenced generations of artists having taught in the Art Studio Program for 30 years and twice chaired the Department. Her paintings are included in national and international collections.
Opening reception: November 4 from 3-6 pm
Patricia Sweetow
Gallery
315 Potero Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94103