ART-PREVIEW:Pat Steir-Waterfall Paintings

Pat Steir, Waterfall Paintings, Dominique Lévy Gallery ArchiveWith a career that has spanned over 50 years, Pat Steir is a leading force in the development of Postmodern Abstraction. Her paintings and prints exist in conversation with various art historical movements from Abstract Expressionism to traditional Chinese painting. Working with these influences, the artist creates meditative, often large-scale pieces that frequently reference the natural world.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Dominique Lévy Gallery Archive

Pat Steir in her solo exhibition at Dominique Lévy Gallery in London presents a selection of works from the period 1990-2011, including canvases from her “Waterfall” series. Synthesizing gesture with natural referent, Steir’s work demonstrates her ongoing investigation into the relationship between material and image. The line, the foundational creative mark, has a strong physical dimension in her practice. In the Waterfall canvases, Steir’s line is connected intentionally and reflexively to her movement. In this way, Steir questions the very possibility of Abstraction. In the ‘80s Steir developed a technique that involved applying paint exclusively by dripping and flinging it onto the canvas. Despite the freedom of execution and the large areas of canvas to be addressed, Steir exercises expert control over her methods, which she developed in part through in-depth study of Japanese and Chinese painting. The pouring process also evokes comparison with the work of Jackson Pollock, Steir works from a ladder on unstretched canvas tacked to the wall, pouring and flinging paint, water, or solvent from oversaturated brushes and allowing the fluid media to cascade down the length of the support. As she has explained, “The paint itself makes the picture…. Gravity makes the image”. The “Waterfall” series bridge the sensibilities of Conceptual art and Eastern philosophy, are contemplative investigations of space and chance.

Info: Dominique Lévy Gallery, 22 Old Bond Street, London, Duration: 9/11/ 16 -28/1/17, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.dominique-levy.com

Pat Steir, Elephant Waterfall, 1990, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London
Pat Steir, Elephant Waterfall, 1990, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London

 

 

Pat Steir, Wind and Water, 1995, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London
Pat Steir, Wind and Water, 1995, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London

 

 

Pat Steir, Vibrating Blue and Red Waterfall, 1993, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London
Pat Steir, Vibrating Blue and Red Waterfall, 1993, © Pat Steir 2016, Courtesy Dominique Lévy New York/London