McKenzie Fine Art: Pete Schulte 2026 Exhibition


	Pete Schulte: Neither-Nor Stone or Not Not-a-Rock September 9 - October 25, 2026
	In his fourth solo outing with the gallery, Schulte presents his most streamlined, intimate, and succinct body of work. Ranging in scale from just under 3 inches square, to the largest at 13 inches, Schulte’s elegant and subtly powerful drawings are notable for their nuanced and careful use of graphite, with the occasional addition of pigment, ink, or colored pencil. Neither fully abstract nor representational, Schulte’s imagery alludes to both biomorphic forms and architectonic structures. While some works are boldly graphic, others seem to mysteriously emerge from their paper ground. Evolving slowly, the drawings arrive through improvisation and observation. They embrace the poetry of small things, the intimate gesture, touch, silence, stillness, and slow time. The exhibition title is inspired by the story of Mi Wanzhong, a 17th century collector of Chinese scholars’ rocks who, after eight years of contemplation, named his favorite Fei Fei Shi, which roughly translates to Neither-Nor Stone or Not Not-a-Rock. The title is both literal and allusive, an affirmation and negation, a paradox and a poetic analogue to the nature of the work that Schulte has produced. Pete Schulte received his MFA from the University of Iowa. He has been exhibiting his work nationally in solo and group museum and gallery shows since 2002. Schulte has been reviewed in Hyperallergic, Art in America, New Art Examiner, and Maake Magazine, among others. His work is in the permanent collections of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama, the Sarah Moody Gallery, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, the Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa, and the Stanley Museum of Art, University of Iowa, Iowa City. He has been awarded numerous residencies, including the Edward Albee Foundation, Millay Arts, Chinati Foundation, and Yaddo. Schulte is Professor of Art at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa.