Pat Steir

(Off View)

Pat Steir came to prominence in the 1960s among the first wave of female artists to gain significant recognition in the American art world. Steir’s early paintings examined symbology and representational semantics, often incorporating actions or marks of effacement or redaction. Influenced by Taoism and Buddhism, Steir’s painting developed into contemplative and sublime expressions of nature. 

Her Waterfall paintings, her most significant body of work, were initiated in the late 1980s. These works, characterized by the downward gravitational drip of paint, blur the line between representation and abstraction. Steir is noted as holding the conviction that her works are never finished; instead, they are passed on to the viewer when she ceases painting as an invitation for further meditation and insight. 

Mirage III is one of a few outdoor installations within the body of work, and is preceded by an iteration made for the 1992 edition of Documenta. 

Exhibitions of Steir’s work have been held at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC; Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia among many others. In 1991, Steir was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Pratt Institute, New York.