Pat Steir: Drawings
June 17-November 13, 2016
World renowned New York City painter Pat Steir presents prints and drawings in a large solo exhibition at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe. The work is shown along with several intimate and revealing documentary videos by the artist and close friend Molly Davies.
“Pat Steir: Drawings” includes a diverse selection of drawings from Steir’s studio. Steir’s work, while stemming from the gestural traditions of abstract expressionism, is more influenced by her contemporary John Cage’s idea of “non-intention”. The chaos and chance method that she more accurately embodies gives priority to letting paint be paint and gravity guide.
She says of her work, “It’s chance within limitations. I decide the colors and make simple divisions to the canvas, and then basically the pouring of the paint paints the painting.” Steir’s close relationships with John Cage and Sol LeWitt influenced her search for a system that was painterly and conceptual at the same time. “It changes as it pours down,” she says. “Gravity becomes my collaborator. The way the thing works is always in part a surprise.” (from “Pat Steir Paints a Painting” by Hilarie M. Sheets, ArtNews, 2012)
The drawings represent recent explorations and capture Steir’s intelligence and conviction as a conceptual painter. Steir is a significant figure in the context of art history and in contemporary art today. She is known for her large scale paintings which are in the collections of such museums as the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City), the Museum of Modern Art (New York City), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York City), the Tate Gallery (London) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City).
(text from the venue’s press materials)
INFORMATION
Helen Day Art Center
90 Pond Street
Stowe, Vermont 05672
(802) 253-8358
Hours:
Wednesday-Sunday, Noon-5PM
and by appointment
Image:
untitled
by Pat Steir
20″x15″
oil, pencil, ink, acrylic
2008