david schutter @ kotula projects

"So what, they are just grey paintings." That's what some may think upon entering kotula's space but art isn't always easy and the answers don't always appear without investigation. I was able to speak with schutter, recent grad of chicago university about his recent works. Schutter, thoughtful and inquisitive, used another traditional masterpiece as his starting point to create his atmospheric landscapes. His traditional painting background influenced everything from the subject matter to the oil painting application. Once you start to stare off into the grey paintings you see that they are not truly grey but soft gradients of color and value that make shadowy and dreamscapes. It is like you can almost see the setting sun and mountains off in the distance but you will have to see for yourself!
detail
detail
Here is an example of the traditional influence in schutter's works and a helpful press release: "The subject of this exhibition is the painting Haarlem, from the Northwestern Dunes by 17th Century Dutch Master, Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29-1682). In a series of muted tonal paintings, the same scale and material as the original work, Schutter formulates not a replication, but a re-creation of the master's work. Like his graphite on mylar drawings, Schutter's enigmatic compositions elicit thoughts about the phenomenology of "historical being."'


drawings - graphite on mylar

From what I gathered from the artist, these drawing occur during the process of painting other works and act as studies for the brush strokes and subtleties within the grey compositions. The drawings, assertive with contrast and swirling, tornado-like lines capture the building block mark-making of the paintings yet are like a ying-yang of the monotoned pieces.