ARTIST STATEMENT
My art explores visual codes and perceptions of taste in the social construction and framing of gender and identity through the lens of domesticity, nostalgia, fashion and style. I work primarily in analog collage. The tactile re-shaping and reconfiguring of imagery through the physical act of cutting up components, evokes a sense of power, purpose and connection. Source material is collected in flea markets, thrift shops and my home, and include vintage and contemporary magazines and books, alongside found or discarded ephemera. As compositions evolve, the application of embellishments, sewing and embroidery, or the addition of found objects and miscellanea, allow for unanticipated narratives to emerge when elements are brought together. Written text accompanying source material in its original arrangement helps inform the identity of components and give shape to the substance of narratives. Playing with art historical and cultural imagery, theatrical vignettes celebrate tropes of beauty, desire, and extravagance. They invite the viewer to indulge in the moment on display and to disconnect through a dream world fantasy, while reflecting on the complexity and legacy of stereotypes and privilege.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Rebecca Steiner is a collage artist from Lyme, Connecticut. Steiner’s background is in art history, with professional experience at galleries and museums, and independent projects that include creating and directing a crowd-sourced photography project “The Average Joe Photo Show.” In 2023, Steiner participated in the Kolaj Institute Collage & Illustration Residency to explore through contemporary collage Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” (published December 2024). Artwork from the residency was displayed at the San Francisco Public Library in “Frankenstein Re-Imagined: A Collage Exhibition” (April 1- 30 June 2025)- part of their “100 years of Surrealism” celebration. Programming included the round table, “Frankenstein in Collage Illustration: Artist Perspectives.” Participation in a second Kolaj Institute Residency, to reinterpret through a modern lens Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando: A Biography,” will result in a newly illustrated edition in 2025. Steiner’s work has been featured in Kolaj Magazine, the ongoing holiday project “Miss Florence’s Artist Trees” (Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, CT), and in group exhibitions including Every Woman Biennial 2024 (La MaMa Galleria, New York, NY), MAPSpace (Port Chester, NY), Hudson Valley MOCA (Peekskill, NY), Bristol Art Museum (Bristol, RI), National Association of Women Artists (New York, NY) and Woman Made Gallery (Chicago, IL).
© Rebecca C. Steiner