{"id":24996,"date":"2024-05-19T11:32:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T15:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=24996"},"modified":"2024-05-19T11:32:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T15:32:01","slug":"william-schaff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2024\/05\/19\/william-schaff\/","title":{"rendered":"William Schaff\u2019s Visions Of Our Sordid Society Beset By Calamity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In some spiritual traditions the \u201cAxis Mundi,\u201d or axis of the world, is a place where heaven and earth come close together and can link. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In William Schaff\u2019s mixed media collage \u201cAxis Mundi,\u201d on view in his exhibition at The Collaborative Lab, 508 Main St., Warren, Rhode Island, from April 26 to May 24, 2024<\/a>, a seeming holy man in robes with a gaping wound in his side\u2014like Jesus from the crucifixion\u2014stands atop a mountain surrounded by calamity. A man digs up a skull. Another man tries to pull a knife from his back. A mob of white guys armed with guns and missiles and their penises face off against rampaging police in body armor. A town is beset by floods and tornadoes and fire. Naked people tumble from the clouds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"William
William Schaff, “Axis Mundi,” 2023, mixed media and collage on wood.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Schaff, who makes his studio and home at the storefront Fort Foreclosure in Warren, Rhode Island, has made album art for Okkervil River, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Mighty Mighty Bostonnes and others. Here, he writes, \u201cWhen the opportunity came up to exhibit at the opening of the new Collaborative Lab, I collected a sampling of my works I have done during and since the pandemic. There is not a particular theme to the exhibit itself, but the pieces continue with themes I have worked with for years. Rather than explicitly tell you those themes, I invite you and everyone\u201d to see the exhibit yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"William
William Schaff, “Leaders of Men,” 2022, ink and collage on paper.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In paintings and collages and ink drawings and scratchboards and linocuts, Schaff depicts a sordid society rife with death and violence and beauty. \u201cLeaders of Men\u201d are industrialists and police and oligarchs who menace the earth. \u201cU.S. Law Enforcement\u201d depicts a clown running a shell game. \u201cCain & Abel\u201d is a two-headed man brandishing pistols. \u201cJesus takes up his cross, the 7th station in the spiritual way of the cross\u201d depicts heads vomiting skeletons into the mouth of another man. The acrylic painting \u201cThe Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil\u201d depicts a tree with a trunk composed of people\u2014bony, blindfolded, maybe dead? The artworks are acid social commentary and haunted visions like a Christian doomsday Thomas Nast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schaff’s digital print \u201cA Map for Jason Molina\u201d is dedicated to Jason Molina of the band Songs: Ohia, who died in 2013 at age 39. It depicts a map on the back of a dog curled around a guitar. A ribbon drawn across the bottom reads: \u201cIt is a beautiful land, but filled with dark spots. When you find yourself in one remember you have friends, protectors, art & music to navigate to brighter roads.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by\u00a0contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And\u00a0sign up for our free, occasional newsletter<\/a>\u00a0so that you don’t miss any of our reporting. (All content \u00a9Greg Cook 2024 or the respective creato<\/em>rs.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"William
William Schaff, “A Map for Jason Molina,” digital print.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"William
William Schaff exhibition at The Collaborative Lab, Warren, Rhode Island, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"William
William Schaff, “Jesus takes up his cross, the 7th station in the spiritual way of the cross,” 2014, scratchboard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"William
William Schaff, “Hold Your Loved Ones,” 2023, acrylic and ink on antique photo and chipboard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"William
William Schaff, “We All Mourn Together,” 2024, mixed media and collage on canvas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In some spiritual traditions the \u201cAxis Mundi,\u201d or axis of the world, is a place where heaven and earth come close together and can link.  In William Schaff\u2019s mixed media collage \u201cAxis Mundi,\u201d on view in his exhibition at The Collaborative Lab, 508 Main St., Warren, Rhode Island, from April 26 to May 24, 2024, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25003,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[1256,1257,1255],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24996"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24996"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25009,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24996\/revisions\/25009"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}