Road Less Traveled
February 16 — April 1–2023 — Galería Ana Serratosa — Valencia Spain
visit: Galería Ana Serratosa website
follow: William Steiger on instagram
The title of the exhibition comes from a poem by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, 1915.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference
What strikes me in these lines is the power of choice and how opting against the expected can lead to greatness. Like life, making art is often about making decisions and I have found that forging my own path, finding new ways of examining the obvious, has been crucial.
So much of architecture is purposeful, built not to please the eye but to perform a function such as the storage of water or grain. Looking for beauty within structure is perhaps not the obvious choice; however, my visual language emerged from this decision to reimagine, to project a soulfulness onto manmade objects.
The work begins with a specific location; however, as my planning evolves into improvisation, and as memories seep in, the original picture develops new significance. An image morphs into a reflection of what each viewer perceives, and what it asks them to recall.
Industrial progress is illustrated by cast iron bridges, towering structures, machinery and airships. Even aerial views of a riverbend convey an effort by humanity to harness nature. Tension is created by emphasizing pictorial depth through perspective and atmospheric conditions, then in turn contradicting that illusion by accentuating the flatness of the surface.
Ultimately, my work seeks similarity to dreamlike vision: at first glance, the picture is sharp & detailed but then it lacks fundamental details that inform you where you are and when. I prefer MEANING to be varied and personal, it belongs to the artist but then it belongs to the viewer.
