In Gods We Trust, Andrew Schoultz’s first solo exhibition at Marx & Zavattero in San Francisco, will be a tour de force encompassing an expansive group of two- and three-dimensional works. Against the backdrop of Schoultz’s densely painted mixed media paintings on panel and paper will be large-scale painted sculptures — including scales of justice, splintered telephone poles, and debris of broken bridges — installed throughout the gallery. Schoultz will create a frenzied walk-through experience, placing the viewer inside the work virtually as a participant, and translate his ideas into a theater of chaos that speaks to the multifarious global issues that plague the world today. The show will be on view September 4 – October 25, 2008.

Schoultz is recognized for his highly detailed outdoor murals and works of a similar vein on canvas, panel, paper, and sculptural installations. Schoultz’s signature imagery — Trojan horses in battle, piles of lumber, broken bridges, pluming tornadoes, subjugating figures, trees laced with American and Foreign currency, tears, Arabic scripts, and fiery portals — are often overlaid by an energetic vortex of brightly painted lines, dots, and collage creating a web like sheath. Utilizing a plethora of artistic forms and styles including graffiti, medieval cartography, Indian miniature painting, and ancient woodcuts, Schoultz produces a dynamic fusion that is seamlessly tumultuous and achingly beautiful.

The artist’s particular style of anarchy in paint and mixed media is an apt metaphor for the imbalance and ailments of the natural world, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the unstable global economy, all of which are hopelessly interconnected. While Schoultz’s work has long had political and environmental overtones, this most recent series features some new iconic American images such as The Statue of Liberty, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln. In addition, a subtle overarching theme of American and foreign currencies runs throughout the show, connecting the world’s economies to political and environmental policies. With piles of debris shooting from portals, trees losing their leaves, warring horses stampeding forth, and praying men prostrate on the ground, Schoultz’s exhibition promises to thrill, alarm, and evoke a world spinning out of control.

Schoultz has had numerous museum and gallery exhibitions in international and national venues such as MAMA, Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles, CA; Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York, NY; V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark; European Kunsthalle and Linn Luhn, Cologne, Germany; and the House of Campari, Los Angeles, CA, among many others. His work has been featured in Whitewall, The Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Juxtapoz, Arrow, Alarm, SF Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, and several other publications. The artist lives and works in San Francisco.