Tim Schultz perpetually reworks the poetic transformations of myth which pictorially offer something akin to the grid for modernism unchastened by rational inquiry. His paintings are recreational, forever creating anew and entangled in the folds of architecture from which they are born.
Schultz (b. 1960, Sydney) has maintained a remarkable painting practice shifting constantly stylistically within his own unmistakable and inimitable signature, paying homage to particular painters of the French Rococo, the Baroque, Art Nouveau and Surrealism. Two artists feature prominently in this scenario: François Boucher (1703-1770) and Salvador Dali (1904–1989). Boucher and Dali are the cardinal points in Schultz’s practice between the sweet and the sinister, the conscious and the unconscious.
Since the beginning of his career, Schultz’s painting practice has run parallel to music. From 1979 until 1983, he was the creative force behind the Sydney post-punk band, The Makers of the Dead Travel Fast. Music is a constant framing element in Schultz’s work, with his deep interest in certain genres, in particular glam rock. Schultz has a Doctor of Philosophy from Sydney College of the Arts, The University of Sydney.
Key exhibitions
- At Home with Painting, curated by Madeleine Kelly, SCA Gallery, Sydney, 2024
- Zombie Eaters, curated by Michael Moran, Murray Art Museum, Albury, 2022
- The Abyss, curated by Naomi Evans, Griffith University Art Museum, Brisbane, 2019
- Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism and its Echoes, curated by Max Delany, Simon Maidment and Elena Taylor, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2015—2016
- OBLIVION PAVILION, curated by Amanda Rowell, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney, 2008
- Shirtnead, curated by Hany Armanious, Mori Annexe, Sydney, 1993
Key readings
- Lurid Beauty: Australian Surrealism and its Echoes, exh. cat. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2015
- Charlotte Day, 'Oblivion Pavilion', Art & Australia, spring 2008, p. 141
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Anna Clabburn, 'Tim Schultz, the shock of the nude', World Art, November 1993, pp. 44—47
Collections
Artbank