Pieter Schoolwerth & Phil Vanderhyden
PROJECT
Through a combination of computer generated and handmade media, Pieter Schoolwerth explores ideas of authentic and simulated gesture. His abstract, often monstrous figures offer new ways of representing the human body. On display for NGV Triennial is Schoolwerth’s painting FlashBack: Noone believes anything, and they believe everything (Supporting actor #6), 2024, and his video Supporting actor, 2024, made in collaboration with artist Phil Vanderhyden. Supporting actor follows an animated avatar of musician Aaron Dilloway, a friend and collaborator of artist Pieter Schoolwerth, as he navigates a series of increasingly fantastical sets. The work was conceived after a water stain appeared on Schoolwerth’s bathroom ceiling, and the artist felt as though the stain was watching him. Phil Vanderhyden transformed the stains into computer-generated characters that disregard conventional human form.
Schoolwerth’s painting was made using the same software as Supporting actor. Schoolwerth began by painting a small composition, which he photographed and placed into a 3D-relief model using computer graphics software. He then printed the resulting image onto a canvas, before adding another handpainted layer. Schoolwerth describes this process as putting ‘the paint back into the painting’.
ABOUT
In his practice, Pieter Schoolwerth explores how the body is represented in a constantly evolving world. His process involves multiple steps, combining both analogue and digital techniques. After graduating from the California Institute of the Arts in 1994, Schoolwerth moved to New York and founded Weird Records, which has released music by forty-six bands and produced over 500 live shows and performance events. He has been featured in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, Paris, and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum, New York in the United States.
Phil Vanderhyden is a multi-disciplinary artist now working primarily in 3D animation. From 2011 to 2014 he worked extensively on the reconstruction of lost works by the acclaimed 1980s media artist Gretchen Bender, culminating in a display at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. His 3D animation combines the aesthetics of horror movies, video games, theatre and casino design. In the US his work has been exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, the Kitchen and Issue Project Room, New York, and the Front International Triennial in Cleveland.