The Process: Peter Schjeldahl

This Fourth of July, Peter Schjeldahl, the New Yorker’s erudite longtime art critic, is hosting a party in his backyard in the small town of Bovina, New York.

The backyard is more of a meadow, forest, stream, and mountain, and the attendees are a mix of art-world people and locals. Peter himself is known to be shy, nebbishy, and tweedy and is a great pyromaniac. Recently, after dental surgery, he spoke to us about his process of wiring trees with explosives, and his enthusiasm was palpable.

— By Jennifer Kabat

No plagiarism is tolerable; thus, it is important to make sure that the structure of the text is altered while maintaining the same context and meaning. This is done to ensure the originality of the work.

Every Fourth of July, Peter Schjeldahl puts on a grand display of fireworks.

The observer remarked that the fireworks were both stunning and awe-inspiring. It was as if the show had returned to basics, something that had never been witnessed before in a pyrotechnic display.

For Peter Schjeldahl, his “go-to” has always been to move things along as quickly as possible. He considers even one second of pause between fireworks to be an eternity.

After more than two decades of practice, the environment he and Brooke are lucky enough to have is a contributing factor to the show’s success. The land they are on provides an ideal stage, complete with interesting depth and various areas.

BLVR: What was the initial impetus behind your ability to recognize the possibilities of destroying things through the landscape?

PS: Brooke, a great garden-maker, gave me the insight to see how everything went together – like a large-scale fire garden.

The progress of the program was formed through a lot of experimentation and mistakes. I’m completely self-taught, and it’s amazing nobody got hurt in the first 10 years or so. It was risky, and today it still looks quite dangerous.

My goal is to create an intense experience. People, including experts, think of fireworks as aesthetically pleasing, but I view that as a type of academic art.

From my experience, all the municipal exhibits I have come across seem to be quite formulaic, this even applies to the display from the federal government, which is situated at the National Mall in Washington, DC.

It’s all about the sky art. Regardless of how far away they are, you can still observe them in the same way. Folks put a lot of effort into making intricate designs, attempting to make them look good, which is unnecessary. Fireworks are beautiful no matter what; that’s something that you don’t need to worry about. Focus on making them intense instead.

At times, individuals become frightened.

To conclude, terror can eventually turn into delight and surprise, which is an intense emotion. I think of the show as being more of a sculpture than a painting of the sky. Looking back on it all, I had no idea what I was doing at first. But I ended up solving the classic problem of middle ground in landscape painting.

My land gave me a meadow-like middle ground which I used to fire things across at low angles. I was inspired by a story Dave Hickey told about Robert Rauschenberg’s reaction to the fountains at the Bellagio. Rauschenberg questioned why everything had to go up, so I decided to find other ways to make things go sideways, back and forth, and so on.

It can appear as if a confrontational battle is occurring, with objects being hurled back and forth.

PS: To properly execute the show, it is necessary to create a transition from close to far, and then back again.

The near items must be sent up to the sky, or the audience may be struck by them. Gerry Marzorati is the captain of the experienced professionals in charge of setting off the fireworks. They are working in a chaotic environment. Everything beyond the river is connected. Scott Hill and I are in the woods; I am giving the cues and he is pressing the buttons. Last year, the upper part of the forest did not work as expected; it should have looked like the mountain had exploded, but there was a loose wire. We hope to fix it this year.

What was your original motivation behind choosing to have the tree illuminated from behind in the mountain and meadow scene?

Note: It does not have any backlighting. The tree is full and the items are being ignited from within it.

BLVR inquired if the action taken was not dangerous in nature.

On Millennium Eve, I got the idea of using trees instead of the Eiffel Tower for fireworks after seeing the display on television. I asked my fireworks guy in Pennsylvania about it and he was bitter about the French’s superiority. Since I didn’t have an Eiffel Tower, I used trees instead, and I duct-taped fireworks into them that fired up, out, down, and even bounced around in the branches. People from the city often worry about starting a forest fire, but don’t realize how damp Delaware County is and that fireworks aren’t a real fire.

BLVR: Does your fireworks provider present you with new items to experiment with annually?

PS: He always gives me a bunch of new things to try out, some of which are quite large. Later, I will put them through the paces with a few of my colleagues to evaluate. We each have our own method of grading them.

On one particular Memorial Day, I recollect that the pyrotechnics were indistinguishable from ordinary fireworks.

For me, I don’t have any strict criteria for what I choose. Having a variety is great, but what matters most is having a lot of it. I consider an abundance of something to be amazing and too much of it is even better. Just testing, by the way.

BLVR: But between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, something changed. It was as though in your grasp, a transformation had occurred.

In conclusion, I’m a firm believer in the idea of multiplying the amount of something I enjoy to create an atmosphere of being overwhelmed. This concept applies to fireworks, theater and many other experiences. The feeling of joy I have when I feel overwhelmed is something I try to share with others.

People perceive it as art now, regardless of how trite that may sound.

I have always been aware that some people might perceive my work as being pretentious, and this came to a head when Roberta Smith was talking to me about Chinese scroll paintings. I was pleased that she liked what I had created, however, I had no idea what she was talking about.

As I have grown more confident in my art, I have had the opportunity to explore pieces such as Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

This was a revelation to me, as I had previously thought of Wagner’s music as bombastic, but in fact, it is very subtle.

This has led me to realise that dramatic pauses and big finales are in fact cheap and the show should be one thing flowing into the other.

Any pauses should be a result of something not going off, not as a means to an end.

No one pays any attention.

A picture depicting a process can be seen in the image. Peter Schieldahl created this visual representation showing a progression from beginning to end.

PS: It’s practically impossible to mess up with fireworks to such an extent that someone won’t find it creative. It’s almost impossible not to be awed by a fireworks display. The medium is so forgiving as long as you adhere to the primary rule of setting off everything as quickly as possible.

BLVR: On the Fourth of July, there’s a significance to you beyond just fireworks.

I’m proud to be an American. It’s our nation’s birthday, and it’s such an inspiring history. We rose up against King George and won. I don’t think patriotism is only a trait of conservatives either.

I really enjoy the beginning of the fireworks display when everyone gathers to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

In my opinion, American patriotism is an ever-changing concept without a precise definition. North America is so varied in its composition that it is likely to split into separate countries, as has happened in the Balkans.

Fortunately, we already experienced this kind of division and do not wish to repeat it. Therefore, our symbols of patriotism must remain fairly basic to avoid disagreement. On the Fourth of July, we all come together to celebrate the shared sense of national identity that binds us as citizens.

To reject this unity would be to reject our very identity as Americans.