PAINTINGS
Schantz’s focus on the river not only led him to a more cultivated version of his earlier Symbolist style, it brought him back to oil painting as well. The liquidity of oil paint felt attuned to the water’s flow and the slower pace of painting correlated with the idea of the river as place to slow down and ruminate. The soft rosy light that peeks behind the horizon of Summer Dusk , (2009) dissipates languidly in the water as we feel the humid air rising from the surface in a sfumato blending of paint. Layered tones in the water, sky, and foliage do an optical dance and create a mesmerizing depth, just realistic enough to remind us of a place we can intuitively connect with but dreamy enough to transport us to introspection. ~Excerpt from One Moment to the Next
