Born in 1944 in Baden Baden (Germany), Wolfgang Stoerchle moved to Canada with his family in 1959. Three years later, in 1962, he left Toronto with his brother on a horse, travelling in the saddle for 11 months across the breadth of the United States to finally arrive to Los Angeles. Stoerchle would eventually claim this journey as his first artwork.
After three years of studies at the University of Oklahoma, followed by two years of Masters at UCSB, Stoerchle became one of the inaugural teachers at CalArts (where his students included James Welling,
Matt Mullican, David Salle and
Eric Fischl). This very productive time in Stoerchle's work saw him adopt the Portapak camera and turn to video. Working also in performance, he presented iconic works live such as trying to get an erection in front of an audience (
Attempt Public Erection performed in Robert Irwin's studio in 1972).
Playing with rudimentary but fundamental actions to interrogate changing forms of state and status, using his own body as an expressive instrument, Stoerchle made a significant mark on the LA art scene of the time. Often working with notions of discomfort and vulnerability, in a blurry space between sincerity and humour, his works would often not "work" – but would find their effectiveness through this very fact. In a rehearsal video for one of his pieces, he describes one such performance as a "success in failure", a very bright formula for understanding his work.
After relocation to New York in 1973 he eventually grew disaffected with the art world. He spent two years on numerous journeys and retreats – studying his dreams and living as an ascetic in the Mexican mountains – before eventually settling in Santa Fe, where he slowly returned to making art.
As
Paul McCarthy has said of Stoerchle, "I think he was on some sort of journey of affecting his own being". His life and work are difficult to separate. His last performance happened in
John Baldessari's studio in October 1975 (
The Last Performance). He died few months later in a car accident, he was 32 years old.
