Though Pat Steir is best-known for her "dripped and splashed waterfall" paintings influenced by 19-century Romantic paintings, Abstract Expressionism, and Chinese landscape painting, the New Jersey-born, New York-based artist has been working with wall drawings and installations for many decades (from the press release). The Nearly Endless Line, Steir's current show at the Sue Scott Gallery, demonstrates the artist's practice of including architecture into her work which allows her to paint off the canvas and into space, creating a three-dimensional, immersive experience.
Employing light and line to create her current experience, Steir painted a long, horizontal brushstroke directly onto the gallery's walls, "around the physical space that the viewer can't experience from one spot or one room -- the line bends around corners and closes a loop around the gallery." Viewers activate the installation as they move through the space. After passing through the heavy black curtains into the installation, you enter a darkened room resembling a nightclub subtly illuminated with blacklight. "The darkness and mystery of the room allows the viewer to step out of reality and enter illusion." The thick, snaking line twists and glides across the walls through two rooms. Attempting to see the continous stroke in its entirety is impossible and almost frustrating, so viewers must follow the line and travel along with it through the gallery—indeed activating the experience and engaging with the work. Learn more at Suescottgallery.com. Through January 9, 2011.
The Nearly Endless Line
The Nearly Endless Line
The Nearly Endless Line
The Nearly Endless Line
Winter Group '91 XI, 1991, Winter Group '91 XVIII, 1991
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