Pat Steir’s current show at Cheim and Read is a dance of the controlled act of painting and the understanding that it (her work) is never a controlled act. Steir’s approach of pouring, throwing and splashing paint has precedent from other painters but it is her intention via the loss of control that breaks down any easy assumptions about the work. Her process, rooted firmly in a position of choices allows for random surprises inside a controlled system that reinforces this cerebral underpinning. The resulting end result is an artwork that is intellectual, mystical and beautiful.
I don’t think the three of these end results are at odds with each other in Steir’s work. More to the point it is that balancing act between beauty and pure intellect that allows the work to find to embrace both sides of the coin and to achieve something far greater.
The physical qualities of the work – multilayered with shimmering colors and metallic’s, divided loosely (mostly into two parts) could be read as metaphorical decisions – really an almost base two binary thought to the image. (Understand this as: left/right, hot/cold, right/wrong, control/random, etc) The work carries a lightness of approach that is neither delivering answers to the binaries nor is it guiding you toward a “correct answer”, whatever that might be. The open ended-ness of the work reinforces the mental rigor of the work while also allowing you enjoy the true decadence that is the enjoyment of viewing something merely for pleasure.
Pat Steir: Winter Paintings runs through March 26 at Cheim and Read