CREATIVE FLOW
Why the painter Pat Steir’s postmodernist waterfall canvases continue to cascade down the decades
A new celebration of the vast waterfall paintings of Pat Steir
It’s hard to fully comprehend the paintings of Pat Steir until you’ve stood in front of one. At over three and a half metres high and almost as wide, Elephant Waterfall makes you stop and stare – its impressive scale, paired with the delicate splashes and rivulets of paint, is mesmerising. It is one of 12 similar works by Steir that form her new exhibition at Dominique Lévy Gallery in London.
The New York-based artist, who is 76, has been producing waterfall pieces since 1985. Each is composed of thin layers of oil paint and takes several months to complete, as every coat takes such a long time to dry.
Steir’s work has been at the forefront of American postmodernism for the past five decades – she’s been the subject of exhibitions at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and London’s Tate, and her work is held in the collections of museums including MoMA, the Guggenheim and the Whitney.
She was drawn to art from an early age: ‘When I was five years old my father gave me a little paint set. I fell in love with a tree and I painted it again and again.’ Even though her work is abstract, she says that she sees her waterfall paintings as landscapes, inspired by traditional Chinese art.
This exhibition is a mix of old and new. ‘We’re hanging them together in the same space so they can speak to each other,’ she says. ‘Although the method is the same, my recent pieces do look different. Mind you, I look different too – everything changes whether you want it to or not.’ ‘Pat Steir’ is at Dominique Lévy Gallery (www.dominique-levy.com) from 9 November.