Steiger's signature oil on canvas paintings of the American landscape and it's familiar icons such as ferris wheels, grain elevators and trains, are minimalist meditations on line and negative space. He begins with the familiar: icons of the American landscape including grain elevators, tramways, trains, machines, roller coasters and Ferris wheels. The recognizable subject matter is then transformed, often more by what is omitted than by what is left in. Imagery becomes abstract and reductive yet the seemingly simpler compositions ultimately communicate more through their sparing directness. Limitless space implies endless narrative wherein forms rise from, and meld into, the landscape. "William Steiger’s paintings allow his imagination and our collective memory to merge to shape “reality.” Steiger’s subjects are bridges, towering structures, and flying machines from the first half of the 20th century. He often paints these magnificent constructions that once epitomized progress and technology, as well as landscapes from an aerial perspective."- Hitomi Iwasaki, Associate Curator Queens Museum of Art, May 2002.
William Steiger studied art at the University of California, Santa Cruz and was a 1989 graduate of the MFA program at Yale University. He is the recipient of numerous grants, fellowships and awards and his work is included in countless private, public and corporate collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art. Beginning in 2004, he added printmaker to his resume, working with Pace Prints and the Dieu Donné Papermill. Over 35 solo shows have been mounted internationally, and in 2011 Hudson Hills Press published a monograph of his work, featuring more than 200 images and essays by 13 contributing writers. Steiger currently lives and works in New York City.
"Postcards from a Pandemic" is brought to you by Marcia Wood Gallery in the hopes of keeping people connected to the transformative and hopeful power of art and the importance of artists' work during the Covid19 Pandemic.
