In Practice: Dana Schutz

Painter and sculptor Dana Schutz shows us around her Brooklyn studio to explore her multidisciplinary process – from charcoal sketches to monumental installations.

Engaging with questions about the world around her and what it means to be human, New York-based Schutz enters her process through a constant state of inquiry. Navigating the tension between the real and the imagined, her striking, often grotesque figures are visual embodiments of human and political contexts, drawing on familiar and historical images to create works of emotion, protest, and social commentary.

Interrogating themes including anxiety, melancholy, shame, and power from fantastical or dystopian worlds, Michigan-born Schutz has gained recognition for allegorical works, leaning into unpredictability and visceral gestures to capture a sense of unease in paint, clay and bronze.

Following the acquisition of Schutz’s large-scale bronze sculpture Sea Group 2022 by the National Gallery, this episode of In Practice visits the artist at her studio – a high-ceilinged space littered with paint tubes and brushes. Directed by Barbara Anastacio, with music by jazz trumpeter Adam O’Farril, the episode offers a glimpse into Schutz’s multimedia practice – reflecting on the open meaning held by the artist’s expressive depictions of human and other forms.