William Steiger

Precise and occasionally poignant, the works of painter William Steiger refine the concept of “less is more” at Holly Johnson Gallery. 

In his latest group of canvases entitled “Inventor,” Steiger remains fascinated by barren vistas and maps. What is portrayed is as important as what is not—the artist revels in the empty spaces that cradle his roller coasters and covered bridges.

“It was a gradual evolution like I’m making a minor discovery every day,” Steiger explains of his process. “I’ve always been drawn to minimal art and abstract art, and I wanted to figure out how much I can say with as little as possible. When you see them in person, there’s a large portion of the paintings that are not painted—it’s all just gesso. White is representing all of these different things, and the viewer’s brain fills in the image.....

Holly Johnson Gallery is pleased to announce Inventor, a show of paintings and collages by William Steiger. The gallery’s second show of the artist’s work opens on October 19th (5:30-8:30 PM) and runs through December 28.

Inventor speaks to the artist’s ongoing fascination with bridges, towers, transportation and machines, many of which came to be during the ‘Age of Invention’. The scrutiny of these, their most precise details, lay the foundation for much of Steiger’s work...

Having reviewed and written about William Steiger’s work during an earlier stage of his career, I am taken by the fact that his subject matter and his point of view appear to uphold a consistency.  I am not entirely certain as to what this means by today’s standards, but it seems to imply the artist’s ability to sustain a certain ethos, meaning that he returns again and again to explore and investigate both the visual and conceptual terms that carry these dated architectural and playland entertainment phenomena into the age of the Internet.  Therefore, the transition between the Post-Industrial and the Informational Age appears all the more pronounced, if not, deftly poignant in articulating a shift in our consciousness through a painterly means of arbitration...

William Steiger's collages are wonderous, often humorous refractions of early American landscapes... 

The work of artist William Steiger recalls the hyper clean-edged landscape and architectural painting of self-described Precisionist Charles Sheeler....

William Steiger shares more than a passing affinity with Chalres Sheeler. Both paintings embrace the engine, the train,...

Holly Johnson Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Destination, by the internationally acclaimed...

Selective viewing is essential to sanity...

By reducing landcape to simplified forms, New York-based William Steiger creates stark, cool paintings...