Juxtapoz Magazine - William Schaeuble and America's "Heartland"

"Rooted in the American Midwest, Heartland merges the surreal with the everyday in a new series of paintings created in the artist's family garage amid the central Iowa landscape where Schaeuble lives and works. The exhibition takes its title from the term "heartland," first coined by British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder to describe the fertile core of central Eurasia-believed, by him, to be the key to global dominance."

"Siblings wrestling, cakes sculpted into the likeness of dogs, agrarian fields, and voyeuristic figures populate Schaeuble's canvases in narratives that remain ambiguous and unresolved. These bucolic tableaus-at once nostalgic and disquieting-echo the sincerity of Grandma Moses while evoking the sensual unease of Grant Wood. What first appears wholesome or sentimental gives way to something more complex: portraits of inherited trauma, surveillance, and control, rendered with both affection and critique."

Heartland takes its title from the geopolitical term 'heartland' coined by Sir Halford Mackinder to describe central Eurasia as a key to global dominance. The series was painted in the artist's family garage amid the central Iowa landscape where Schaeuble lives and works. Paintings merge the surreal with the everyday, reworking familiar Midwestern imagery to expose mythologies around identity and power. Subjects include siblings wrestling, cakes sculpted like dogs, agrarian fields, and voyeuristic figures in ambiguous, unresolved narratives. The works balance nostalgia and unease, mixing affectionate portrayals of family and community with portraits of inherited trauma, surveillance, and control, offering cultural sustenance and reflection.

Read at Juxtapoz