Emil Schult


Emil Schult is a German painter, poet and audio-visual artist.

Biography

After studying Sinology in Münster, Schult joined the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf in 1969 to study Fine Arts in the printmaking class of Dieter Roth and later in the painting classes of Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter. In 1973 he finished his studies with the title of ‘Meisterschüler’ of Gerhard Richter. Both Joseph Beuys and Dieter Roth as well as Roth's partner Dorothy Iannone remained important for Schult's artistic development. In 1969, Schult lived in Reykjavik at Roth's studio-home.
Schult has developed a vast body of work beginning with prints, drawings and artist's books that encompass philosophical writings, poems, comics, collages and drawings. Early on he included film in his repertoire as well as painting – later on he only worked with reverse glass painting.
From 1970 to 1974 Schult collaborated with the Free International University, founded by Joseph Beuys. From 1973 to 1975 he also worked as an art teacher at a grammar school in Düsseldorf, then as a lecturer at the former college of education in Münster. Schult published books on art didactics.
In 1972 Emil Schult started artistic collaboration with Kraftwerk founders Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. As artist friends they created the "musicomix" poster for the album Ralf and Florian and further artwork for Autobahn, Radioactivity, and additional graphics. During the next years of their cooperation they also wrote lyrics and sound poetry for Autobahn, Radioactivity, The Model, Pocket Calculator, Computer World et al.
In 1979, he deepened his studies of Computer Music at the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Stanford University, CA, USA. Since the mid 1980s, Schult has also worked with video and computer animated images.
In the late 1980s he moved to the Bahamas, where he developed his distinctive style of reverse glass painting, which has informed his future work. This ancient Chinese technique opened to Schult a contemporary view on painting, as today the world is mostly perceived through glass – the window glass, the glass of the tablet, TV etc.
Since the early 1990s, he has lived in Düsseldorf again where he was commissioned to create a crypt for the . The crypt is a complex artistic room meant to create the opportunity for meditation for the students. After submitting 50 photos of the crypt to Karlheinz Stockhausen, he composed a piece called ’50 Klangbilder’ for it. It was published in form of a DVD in the publication „Symbolik einer Krypta”.
In Schult's artistic work topics such as the evolution of the electronic chip play a central role as well as a series of homages to the pioneers of electronic developments. His focus lies on the visionary potential of art and his recent paintings reflect on the connection between humans, the electronic microcosmos and the vastness of space.
Emil Schult has recently held solo exhibitions at Osthaus Museum Hagen, DE, Burchfield Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY, USA, at Florida South Western State College, Fort Myers, FL, USA, , Paderborn, DE, at Alfred University, NY, USA, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA.
He served as a guest professor at the , Alfred University NY, USA.
His recent participations in group exhibitions include Deichtorhallen Hamburg, DE, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Berlin, DE, Galerie Buchholz New York, USA, AC Gallery Beijing, CHN, , CHN, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, DE, :de:Raketenstation Hombroich|Raketenstation Hombroich, Neuss, DE, Tampa Museum of Art, FL, USA, , Düsseldorf, DE, et al.
Since 2017, Schult has collaborated with Emma Nilsson as . In 2019, Lothar Manteuffel and Max Dax joined the group. TRANSHUMAN ART CRITICS view the evolution of electronic music and art from the perception of enhanced humans. The observations are presented as audio-visual pieces in which the archeological findings merge with the cognition of future.

List of works

Books (selection)

Instruments & Performance

Writing & Arrangement

Production

Technical

Visual

Acting, Literary & Spoken