EXHIBITION: January 15 – June 29, 2019
ABOUT | Artist and Washington State University alumnus Michael Schultheis finds dynamic synergies between the languages of mathematics and art. An economist and mathematician, with experience in both academic and corporate worlds, Schultheis employs analytical formulae within his luminous paintings and sculptures. His art bends mathematical precision into imperfect visions, creating room for metaphor, storytelling, and beauty, connecting us all in its expression.
Raised on a rural family farm near the Snake River in southeast Washington State, Schultheis was awarded a B.A. in Honors Economics from WSU in 1990. His art has been featured in more than 60 solo exhibitions in the United States. It is included in public collections such as the National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C., and U.S. Embassies in Greece and Switzerland. Schultheis has lectured widely on ‘Analytical Expressionism’ a term he uses to describe his practice at the intersection of mathematics, science, technology and the visual arts.
Funding has been provided by the Samuel H. & Patricia W. Smith Arts Endowment Fund, the John Mathews Friel Memorial Arts Lectureship, and the Members of the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU.
LOCATION | The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU is located in the Crimson Cube (on Wilson Road across from Martin Stadium and the CUB) on the WSU Pullman campus. The hours of our six galleries are Tuesday – Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., closed Sunday and Monday. For more information please contact the museum at 509-335-1910.
SPECIAL EVENT | Reception & Performance with Artist Michael Schultheis
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2019
Time: 4:30-6:30 p.m.
Location: Wright/Harmon Gallery| Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU
The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art WSU is hosting a reception & performance with artist Michael Schultheis on Thursday, January 24 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. in the Wright/Harmon gallery. Enjoy the realms of math and art as they come together to tell a new kind of story. Everyone is welcome! Reception with light refreshments to follow.
Water Lilies of Archimedes
(see sidebar right for 3-D rendering)
Water Lilies of Archimedes is a 36-foot painting including ideograms that are from both my six favorite artists and the six basic tenants of Calculus. Art students and math students recognize these same forms and then can share in each other’s visual experience. In the same way that the Water Lilies of Monet at Musée de l’Orangerie was painted in the round, I painted my homage to Archimedes so that the end of the painting is contiguous with the beginning. In that communication, we can read the equation for a Cycloid discovered by Galileo and see it on the internal chalkboard of our mind.
This 360-degree photograph of my Water Lilies in the round invites us to walk among the equations and the ideograms that have revolutionized art, math, and the way we live. Pythagoras said math is in everything. I find it in relationships, and then paint and sculpt it so that others can experience it as well. This 360 adds to the experience of the painting, allowing the viewer to see what I see. —Michael Schultheis
