Hovenweep (oil on canvas, wood, tape) 112" x 84" 2013
Hovenweep is a meditative work on the history and future of the great desert that we live on the edge of, which extends from California to Colorado and down from Idaho to both mainland and Baja Mexico.  The title comes from the Ute name for the ruins of an Anasazi castle and means “Deserted Valley.”  The blue masking tape square on the floor is a viewing area, where one is encouraged to take a seat and think or rest.  This large seven-paneled painting is the eponymous work in a series of paintings and sculptures.  It won the Board of Directors prize in the Southern California Regional Art show in San Diego last year.
 

Hovenweep (detail)

Hovenweep (detail)

"By referencing the past through actual and imagined formations of perplexing symmetry that defy gravity and the absence of a grounding horizon line, Schenk has produced a truly illuminating body of work. Not only do the distinct points of view that collectively comprise Hovenweep convey a new landscape order, but the exhibition as a whole invites viewers to stop and consider how the ruins of our existence might appear to future civilizations."
    - Anise Stevens, AEQAI

The End (plaster, polystyrene, ink & acrylic) 60" x 240" x 180" 2015

The End is a large installation work that was shown at the Prescott College Art Gallery and Artshare L.A. in 2015.  It is made out of very lightweight materials so that it appears to float. 
Part of the “Untethered” series, it presents a vision of the future American landscape. The work has a surface stillness or calm that belies a history of violence, like the thin crust of the earth or the slender skin of civilization. A delicate weightlessness prevails in the aftermath of upheaval, reversal, calamity and destruction. Buildings collapse in on themselves yet appear to float, pieces of broken sidewalks dangle, the remains of paved highways hang suspended, twisting meditatively in currents of air; the remnants of a great civilization, once so heavily anchored in gravity, now untethered.

Shown here: Installation views from "Hovenweep," a solo show at the Prescott College Art Gallery in Arizona, 2015.

The End (plaster, polystyrene, ink & acrylic) 60" x 240" x 180" 2015

Cahokia 2013, 60" x 48" oil on canvas

All Broken Up (Over You), 36" x 36" x 36' plaster, polystyrene, monofilament, ink, gouache, 2012

Memorial 2015, 24" x 24" oil on canvas