Winston Wächter Fine Art Seattle
www.winstonwachter.com
For years, Michael Schultheis used mathematics to create software, which is now part of our everyday life. Since moving on from engineering, Schultheis has channeled his passion for mathematics into visual, conceptual storytelling. Each painting is layer upon layer of formulas and their corresponding geometric shapes. For those able to read those formulas, canvases are transformed into three-dimensional space, and for others they are simply beautiful, intriguing abstractions. What makes Schultheis’ work relatable to any viewer is how he chooses to use these formulas and shapes. Human behavior, relationships, situational information is all translated mathematically. The speed at which we live our lives, character traits of individuals, our locations, are explained as velocity, eccentricity and radius. By sharing these stories via mathematics, Schultheis removes all judgment of behavior, and simply presents us with what is. This timeless and universal language becomes a way of connecting us all. His work can be found in the collections of the Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA; United States Embassy, Athens, Greece & Bern, Switzerland; and the Mathematical Association of America, Washington DC among many others. Exhibitions of his works have been held at the Howard Hughes Institute in Chevy Chase, MD and at the National Academies of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
206.652.5855
jessica@winstonwachter.com
www.winstonwachter.com
Bouquets for LeWitt, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 120 inches
“Musicians often describe the sensation of reading sheet music and “hearing” the notes play in their heads. Similarly, abstract concepts in mathematics can register a euphoric visual sensation. This is the world I explore while painting. As a mathematician and an artist, I work in the area in which those two subjects meet, showing viewers, on canvas, what the process of thinking about math looks like to me. By allowing the paintings to operate like a chalkboard in my studio, gradually filling up with abstract concepts, I translate the intricate world of mathematical relationships into something everyone can see.” -Michael Schultheis
206.652.5855
jessica@winstonwachter.com
www.winstonwachter.com
Cardioid Limacons of Pythagoras, 2014, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 72 inches
Above: detail Opposite: Conics of Apollonius 04, 2008, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 inches
wall sketches in studio, 2016
Port Limacons of Pathagoras 2016 acrylic on canvas 48 x 48 inches
“All relationships and human behavior can be represented and explored in mathematical formulas and geometric models. The speed at which we live our lives is velocity, the closeness of a friendship can be a converging experience, romantic attraction can be synchronistic and depend on timing. The way those factors intersect creates beautiful geometric forms and patterns, free of judgments of that behavior. Representing these relationships in geometric models and putting words and equations to these behaviors, allows us to open up and explore human behavior with greater nuance and dimension. With mathematics, all that we are and do, simply is.” - Michael Schultheis
Luminaries in the North, 2016, acrylic on canvas 42 x 36 inches
Luminaries in the East, 2016, acrylic on canvas 42 x 36 inches
Luminaries in the South, 2016, acrylic on canvas 42 x 36 inches
Luminaries in the West, 2016, acrylic on canvas 42 x 36 inches
Handwritten equations, painted geometric forms, expressionistic brushwork, color and luminosity— these are the means by which Schultheis conveys his meanings and his subject matter. Each painting is in his words “a conversation” with himself, a mindscape of current thoughts… about contemporary mathematics, ancient history, his daily activities, his life, and his relationships. From a small pine cone picked up on a walk to the eternity of William Blake’s eponymous poem, all that Schultheis encounters is explored and understood through geometry. Even his grief at the thoughtless killing of some fledgling swallows is eased by the application of mathematics. While Schultheis sees the physical world as did Paul Cézanne, treating “nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, the cone,” he also constructs geometries about love, family, and emotions. For him, as for Archimedes, “all is mathematics.” Patricia Grieve Watkinson Seattle, 2016
Opposite: Gardens of Archimedes 02, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 60 inches
Education 1993 M.S., Labor Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 1990 B.A., Honors Economics, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 1989 History and Italian, Scuola Per Stranieri, Siena, Italy Selected Solo Exhibitions 2016 Integrating on Celadon, J. Willott Gallery, Palm Desert, CA Pythagorean Gems, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Dallas, TX 2015 Pythagorean Interludes, Forre and Company, Aspen, CO Pythagorean Eyes, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Dance of the Limacons, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Houston, TX 2014 Dreams of Pythagoras, Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA The Geometry of Archimedes, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA 2013 Universal Couplings of Archimedes, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Isosceles Cones of Archimedes, Chase Young Gallery, Boston, MA Archimedes Ellipses, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR Archimedes Sphaerica, Pryor Fine Art, Atlanta, GA 2012 Seas of Archimedes, Forre and Company, Aspen, CO Gardens of Archimedes, Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA 2011 Spherical Triangles of Menelaus, David Richard Contemporary, Santa Fe, NM Winds of Menelaus, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Sales of Euclid, David and Cline Gallery, Ahsland, OR Spheres of Menelaus, Chase Young Gallery, Boston, MA 2010 Optics of Euclid, Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA Eccentricities of Apollo, Janeila Farms Research Campus, Howard Hughes Institute, Chevy Chase, MD Lotus of Euclid, Forre and Company, Aspen, CO 2009 Wings of Apollonius, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Loci of Apollonius, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR Conic Symmetries, Chase Gallery, Boston, MA Apollonius Blossoms, The PEW Charitable Trusts, Washington, D.C. 2008 Conics of Apollonius, Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA
2007
2001 2000
Toroids of Ganymede, Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA Interior Toroids, Chase Gallery, Boston, MA Villarceau Series, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Villarceau Circles, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland OR Toroid Glissettes, Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York, NY Equilateral Toroids, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR Spherical Lunes, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Limaçons, Chase Gallery, Boston, MA Cardioids, Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, WA Cycloids, Rotunda Gallery, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Cycloids, Keck Center Gallery, National Academies, Washington, D.C. Cycloids Preview, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Cycloids Preview, Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, WA Harmonic Oscillations, Fairbanks Gallery, Oregon State University, OR Writing on the Wall, Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, WA Harmonic Quadrants, Cervini Haas Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ Parabolic Symmetries, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, OR Harmonic Oscillations, Froelick Gallery, Portland, OR Geometric Progressions, Soren Christensen Gallery, New Orleans, LA Correlations, Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, WA Elasticity, Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR Equilibria, Soren Christensen, New Orleans, LA Open Systems, Ballard Fetherston Gallery, Seattle, WA White Math, Margo Jacobsen Gallery, Portland, OR White Matrix, Patricia Cameron Fine Art, Seattle, WA Outliers, Patricia Cameron Fine Art, Seattle, WA
1999
Griot, Patricia Cameron Fine Art, Seattle, WA
2006
2005
2004
2003 2002
COLLECTIONS BBVA Compass Bancshares, Inc., Houston, TX Blue Nile, Seattle, WA Citigroup, Seattle, WA City of Seattle, Seattle, WA
Deloitte Touche  Tohmatsu, Seattle, WA Dendreon Corporation, Bridgewater, NJ Four Seasons Olympic Hotel, Seattle, WA Honors College, Washington State University, Pullman, WA Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington, D.C. Hyatt Regency, Bellevue, WA M Financial Holdings Inc., Portland, OR Madison Development, Seattle, WA Martin Smith Corporation, Seattle, WA The Mathematical Association of America, Washington D.C. Maybelle Clarke MacDonald Fund, Portland, OR Meriwether Group, Portland, OR National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. Novo Nordisk, Seattle, WA Olive 8, Seattle, WA Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR Portable Works Collection, City of Portland, OR Portland Community College, Portland, OR Rainier Pacific Bank, Tacoma, WA Ritz Carlton, New York, NY Seattle Athletic Club, Seattle, WA Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt, Portland, OR Summit Cardiology, Seattle, WA Suncadia Resort, Cle Elum, WA Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, WA The United States Embassy, Athens, Greece The United States Embassy, Bern, Switzerland University of Oregon, Eugene, OR University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA Westin, Seattle WA LECTURES 2016 Joint Mathematics Meeting, Seattle WA 2015 12th Annual Bhatia Lecture, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 2014 Wentworth Institute of Technology, Boston, MA
2014 2014 2011 2005 2005 2005 2003
Honors College Alumni, Washington State University, Seattle WA Seattle University, Seattle, WA The Karl Jonske Memorial Lecture Series, Catlin Gabel, Portland, OR George Washington University, Washington, D.C. Keck Center, National Academies, Washington, D.C. Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects, Seattle, WA