ARTIST STATEMENT
Rebecca Steiner is a collage artist working in Lyme, Connecticut. Her 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.” Steiner’s work has been featured in Kolaj Magazine, in the Kolaj Institute editions of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus” (2024) and the forthcoming “Orlando: A Biography” by Virginia Woolf, and in group exhibitions including Every Woman Biennial 2024, at MAPSpace, Bau Gallery, Hudson Valley MOCA, Bristol Art Museum, National Association of Women Artists and Woman Made Gallery.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
My practice focuses on making analog, cut-and-paste collage narratives. Compositions explore 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. The physical act of cutting and pasting source material evokes for me a sense of power, purpose and connection through the tactile re-shaping and reconfiguring of imagery. Components are collected in flea markets, thrift shops and my home, and include vintage and contemporary magazines and books, discarded vernacular photographs, and found or unwanted ephemera. 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.
© Rebecca Steiner