Anthony and I became friends in 9th grade over a mutual crush on Monica Hartman. Soon he became my "adopted" brother. We were inseparable–running partners, the Joe Montana and Jerry Rice of Nerf football, comic book mavens (remember when Granite City Comics was in Westgate on the second floor??), KOOL 108 sing-along specialists...and the list goes on. The following article on Anthony was written for The Wake Student Magazine, a bi-weekly, student-operated news, arts and entertainment publication run by University of Minnesota students.
The Sensual Art of Anthony Schrock
Interview by Morgan Mae Schultz
The same can be said about the subjects of Schrock's work-passive nudes with a bit of drapery, portraits of introspective women in timeless peasant costumes. and studies of Greek and Roman statuary. Schrock's technique is meticulous, and like the old masters, he is as much craftsman as artist. He believes that great art takes skill, not just concept.
One drawing, Marianne, was included in Skin 2003, a local juried show (reviewed on page 7). 1t is a simple, closely cropped female torso in charcoal. Light and shadows are carefully rendered, and the visual presence of palpable flesh in this piece shows the skill of the artist.
Schrock chooses nudes. and particularly women, as subject matter because, he says, "One of the most basic things, all a person owns, is their own body. We are all interested in our own bodies. People are the most beautiful thing. I'll never paint a landscape or a puppy. I hope that my
work just shows beauty. There are a lot of things in the world that are ugly. As a man I admire women and appreciate the beauty of women. Most of the art that l really admire throughout history has been of women and I think that women are more aesthetically pleasing than men." When asked if his work is objectifying to women, Schrock simply says, "No," then goes on to cite the fact that most of his patrons have been women.
"All of the things that strike me most deeply have a mixture of beauty and sadness in them.
Although Schrock has done expressly erotic work in the past, his recent work has been described as sensual, not erotic. He says the difference between art and pornography is the intended effect on the audience. "If a piece is supposed to stimulate one's mind. it's probably fine art. and if a piece is supposed to stimulate one's genitals. it's probably porn. There are things out there that are a middle ground and those things are actually pretty interesting."
Schrock is currently preparing to hang a show at Espresso Royale in Downtown Minneapolis. This show will focus on work that explores the past, partly through portraiture, incorporating period clothing (including some tirelessly researched sketches of Joan of Arc). The jewels of the upcoming
show, however, are a series of paintings and drawings depicting classical sculpture. Schrock is haunted by museums' remnants of Greek and Roman statuary, and renders them with the same reverence he gives to portraits of living people. "All of the things that strike me most deeply have a mixture of beauty and sadness in them," he says. "That's something that fascinates me so much. And here was the absolute pinnacle, the crowning achievement of the artistic efforts of an entire civilization, and we can still look at them. But they're worn and they're falling apart. Some of them have flat spots where they've been dragged and crocks and missing pieces. We have a phrase. 'etched in stone' which means permanent, but stone isn't even permanent. Here are these things that are so beautiful and so finely made, but at the same time you can't see one that doesn't have a crack or a missing nose."
Audience reactions to Schrock's first attempts in this series went something like, "You obviously put a lot of work into that but don't point it right at my face." I've seen these early attempts, and I think it's the creepy eyes. Luckily, he was persistent. "They kept coming back to me in my head and I kept painting them again and again." Since then his technique has improved, and the results are elegant, daringly composed oils and charcoal drawings that are very worth seeing.
See the work of Anthony Austin Schrock at Espresso Royale. 13th and
Hennepin. April 3-30th.
Here was the postcard announcing Anthony's show at Espresso Royale.
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