Stream of Consciousness: Steven Criqui

Comforting Artifice (96k)

Untitled (Lobster) (110k)

Steven Criqui's work achieves a hybrid of historical art and mass culture. Using computer design programs instead of preparatory drawings, he works through Old Master genres--such as American landscape painting or Dutch still lifes--while incorporating the style and reduction of Pop Art. Each work begins with representation: trees and grass, tables and comestibles, things we know from the world. These are arranged in familiar, recognizable structures. Whereas earlier artists exploited these simple elements to explore gradations of light and subtle lines, Criqui seeks the simplest shapes, emphasizing the cookie-cutter features of his subjects. At the same time, his modified forms create visual puns, suggesting body parts and other references. Like regarding an optical illusion, it is nearly impossible to see both the traditional and the contemporary aspects of these works simultaneously, so profoundly are they opposed in affect.