Pat Steir Paintings

Steir was born in 1940 in Newark, New Jersey, and currently lives and works in New York City. She attended the Pratt Institute in New York from 1956 to 1958, and Boston University College of Fine Arts from 1958 to 1960. She then returned to Pratt, receiving a BFA in 1962. Both institutions have since honored Steir: Boston University in 2001 with a Distinguished Alumni Award, Pratt in 1991 with an honorary doctorate.She rose to fame in the 1970s with monochromatic canvases of roses and other images that were X-ed out. The artist explained, "I wanted to destroy images as symbols. To make the image a symbol for a symbol. I had to act it out_make the image and cross it out. ...no imagery, but at the same time endless imagery. Every nuance of paint texture worked as an image."