RODGER SCHULTZ

"When I approach a canvas, I empty myself of all goals, notions, aims, ideals, preconceived yearning and prior learnings. Grand works should always start with infinite possibility, because they surely cannot end with it. If one approaches his canvas with nothing, he is assured that only his true self will remain to slather on the board. For me, I hope what remains is beautiful, and if I have any purpose or desire as a creative, it is to manifest beauty, out of myself." 

RECENT WORK 10/24/12

IN THE GALLERY

BIO 
Rodger Schultz (b. 1970) 
Sired a natural creative on the rubber rim of the Nation's Capital, Rodger Allen Schultz Jr. spent his youth flirting with the discipline of measured form. Rulers, angles, uniformed patterns and a horseman's grip on spatial relationships -- his parents pegged him an architect -- and they were close. In 1988 Rodger entered the B.A. program at UMBC for Graphic Design and left 4 years later with a hangover and a severe distaste for the machinery and precise devices that he had once embraced.

Shaking structure, he headed for the most organic place he could find. In Boulder, Colorado Rodger picked up the brush at the age of 21, wielding it in the loose and easy manner of his surroundings. With rebellion to spare, he quickly embraced the disputed themes of Pablo and Vincent while secretly, and deeply, craving happiness. "The time felt like a tearing of paper". Yet it is here that he would tap the spiritual vein that would eventually transform his Life. With an early patron, a vivid dream and a few loyal collectors, Schultz found himself mated in fate and entrenched in the odd and the creative for the next 10 years. 

In 1999, Rodger left his Sedona, Arizona home with his new family and began a decade long career as a Media Designer in the Information sector of D.C. - you know, the heavy hitters - Silicon. He thrived in the corporate arena, once again embracing the calculate and deliberate. Basking in the new found worlds of typography, branding, retro aesthetic and modern architecture, Rodger's impressionistic tendencies jumped the curb and crashed into the graphical and linear. His combining of non-related themes sparked a decadent collision of the non-collidable. Innovation took the front seat of his Being. Yet with the corporates inexorably bound by the Corporation, Schultz began to loathe the Mind of the Machine. 

He quit. Pow. With space to innovate freely, original invention consumed his efforts as he again waded through the Fine Arts full-time. Private collectors lined up and a few galleries opened their doors as Rodger crafted small batches of ill-advised, themed series and presented them publicly. The ex-brand Designer unremittingly branded himself as the Debranded, and continued to do whatever he wanted. Quick recognition came for his powerful and energetic line of poured paint work called JPOP (Jackson Pollock on Prozac), which he purposely ran for only one year. In August of 2010, Rodger Schultz Awakened.

In the manner of Advaita or Non-duality, Rodger was freed from the hell of Mind. Now Awake. Before Time. In Absolute Joy. "There is only One Being and you are It as I Am It. Rodger Schultz is no more."

Without thought attached to it, the body for Rodger continues to exist and move and create work. "Judge For the work and it won't change. Judge Against it and it also won't change. Why not stay silent about it and truly see it as it is. This work Must Be to provoke you to Silence, and in as many ways as possible." 

ARTIST STATEMENT 
Love Is and that's it. There is nothing else here. You are it. 

ABOUT THE ART 
"RAS.'s work is truly a non-linear parade. It seems to be evolving like a fancier kaleidoscope composed of fancy kaleidoscopes. You have to put your eye on the glass and twist the wheel to see how everything aligns."

"It's obvious to the fortunate, that going elbow deep in the Grape Nuts is the actual thrill of it. Too many people today like the prize already sitting at the top of the box. The prize is just to keep you distracted. The prize is nice, dont get me wrong. But I'm pretty sure Rodger's work is the Grape Nuts. You're supposed to stick your arm in it."