Pat Steir, an artist after my own heart, has created a new and inventive form of abstract and conceptual art. Her use of drip painting, prints, and drawing all combine to create a thought evoking final product. Though she does not assign meaning to work, each person viewing the piece can find his or her own interpretation. Her work is challenging to the mind and I find it interesting to just sit and stare at until I come up with my own idea of what it is about.
Steir’s process of laying down drips of paint and letting gravity do the work do the work is very interesting to me. As an artist I like to be in control over my material and know what will happen when I lay down paint or pencil. I find it refreshing that Steir removes herself from the picture when creating her work. She just lays down one line of paint and lets gravity move and form the final piece. Her final products are these wonderful and creative pieces full of line and shape that are created not by the artists hand. All of the converging lines and shapes bring their own visual interest and leads your eye across the work. What I enjoy most about her work is from a quote from the artist herself saying, “I can’t do it again. I can’t replicate it even if I know what happened. That’s the pleasure of it.” I love how her work is so original and undefined that she could never make the same thing again.
Having never seen Pat’s work before starting this project, I did not know what to expect when I typed her name into Google. I immediately fell in love with her work. I loved that look of it and how much inspiration and meaning I could draw from each piece that I looked at. Her work reminded me of Pollock, Rothko, and Martin. All three use blocked shapes and Pollock uses the drip method. You can see obvious inspiration from these artists in Steir’s work. I like how she has almost combined all three and made a new form completely her own. Her use of color is also something that is very interesting. Steir uses bright vivid colors that she assigns no meaning to, but you could draw so much just on color choice. Her different combinations of contrasting colors give her works a vibrant and appealing look.
An Installation for the New York School of Drawing, Painting, and Sculpture shows that Steir has the talent to draw life-like and well, but does not need it in her own work. The installation is a mix of different studies of different areas of the body drawn in different manors. I love her use of color in the drawing and the fact that she has left all of the measuring tools up on the walls. She also incorporated some of her style into the drawing by using the boxes to help plan things out, placing random drips in places, hatching and cross hatching, and the vivid color choice. The thing that I love the most about the installation is that it is proving Steir’s talent and that she can draw well and knows contemporary and traditional techniques. Even though the vast majority of Steir’s work is modern and conceptual, she possesses talent. People may look at a drip painting of hers and say that it is so easy to accomplish, but she has proven herself as an artist and worked herself up to the point that she is at today. Though her work may seem easy to create, only she can do it. Her process and style makes her work completely her own and like the quote above, can’t be replicated.
Pat Stier’s work in inspiring to me and I enjoy just sitting and looking at it. I am happy that I stumbled across her work and looked into her process. It is such a strange thing to me to try and take my views and interpretations out of a piece that I am creating, but I love the concept. Steir’s work can bring out numerous different reactions and emotions in the viewing audience. When looking at her work in person at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was overwhelmed by the lines and shapes and what they made me think of. Her art is thought provoking and not even by her own intension. Pat Steir has created this new idea of removing herself as possible from her work to allow the viewer to solely place meaning and interpretation into the piece.
