Jasper Johns and Pat Steir at Surovek Gallery

Jasper Johns

Having a triumphant retrospective at not one, but two, major museums is a wonderful way to celebrate one's 91st birthday, and that is what Jasper Johns is doing. The exhibits at both the Whitney in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art have garnered rave reviews and inspired art lovers to look at Johns' works and see how they have evolved over the past seven decades.

Johns' use of everyday and mass produced objects led the way for acceptance of Pop and Conceptual Art in the mid-twentieth century. His quiet, almost inscrutable demeanor invites those who view of his works to interpret each work for themselves.

Since the 1960s, Johns has used lithography, etching and other printmaking techniques to enhance his ideas. The time he spent in Japan, during his service in the army during the Korean War, inspired much of his composition and design. Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror will be on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the Philadelphia Museum of Art through February 13, 2022.

Pat Steir 1940 -

The Long Museum in Shanghai is currently exhibiting the first major survey in China of the works of Pat Steir.

Steir was born in Newark, New Jersey, attended Pratt Institute, had successful shows of her own work and became an art director at Harper & Row publishing company in New York.

Steir was introduced to Chinese yipin ink-splashing painting, a technique that was developed in developed in the 8th and 9th centuries. She mistakenly thought that the artists threw ink onto their paper, and so she tried the technique with her paints. Although she misinterpreted the Chinese technique and intent, her own works benefitted from the misunderstanding.

"For my work now, " she said, "I have set up a little system that involves chance. Chance is like a partner, an amusing partner; we'll make something and see what happens." Steir hovers above her large canvasses and lets the paints splash and drip. She makes choices and allows chance to share the work.

Pat Steir's works are part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, the National Gallery of Art inWashington, D. C., the Tate, London and other major venues. The exhibit of Pat Steir's work will be on display at the Long Museum in Shanghai through January 3, 2022.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the work of Jasper Johns, Pat Steir or any of the other fine artists whose works are available at Surovek Gallery.