Pat Steir

Schwabsky, Barry, Artforum International

Pat Steir's new paintings, exhibited under the Goethean title "Elective Affinities," continue to rehearse the abstractly generated waterfall imagery that has preoccupied her for the last several years. As before, a vehement, loaded stroke at the top of the canvas allows thinned paint to drip down, evoking falling water, while below some flung splashes a la early Norman Bluhm represent the water's upward splash. What's new is that Steir has renounced the grisaille to which this series had been confined in favor of intense--not to say lurid--color. In one sense, however, Steir's use of color remains limited: with one exception, she doles these colors out just two to a canvas, one for the …

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Publication information: Article title: Pat Steir. Contributors: Schwabsky, Barry - Author. Magazine title: Artforum International. Volume: 31. Issue: 7 Publication date: March 1993. Page number: 93. © 1999 Artforum International Magazine, Inc. COPYRIGHT 1993 Gale Group.

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